Washington Navy Yard
Washington, DC
December 22, 2017
A chilly wind coming off the Anacostia River greeted the three passengers, as Dan skillfully landed the submersible alongside a finger pier at the Washington Navy Yard. It had been born in the new nation’s infancy, first opening in 1799. It became famous for the construction and design of warships and later specialized in ordnance technology that included the battleships’ sixteen inch guns. Still a very busy place, the yard hosted the Naval Sea Systems Command as its primary tenant, continuing its historic role as the ship engineering and technology center for the US Navy.
Dan recalled visiting the yard with Commander Hank Owens to look at some outfitting for a dry Seal Delivery Vehicle prototype that had been built as a Research and Development project supervised by the Office of Naval Research. The two were called up to Tingey House, the original quarters of the first Commandant, to have supper with the Naval District Commander, an old classmate of Owens. The two had a lot of catching up to do and drained a bottle of scotch in the process. As the designated driver, Dan just had a beer before dinner. The evening ended when the Admiral showed the two to a guest room where Owens immediately fell asleep in his summer white uniform. It was a short night. After a carafe of hot coffee with the Admiral and neither accepting his invitation to put the hair on the dog, Dan and the Skipper piled into the sedan and headed back to Norfolk. The Skipper fell asleep before they’d cleared the beltway. Dan never knew what real snoring was until that trip south.
Those awaiting the arrival included a number of Navy divers that quickly embarked on the submersible. The trio was met by the Navy District Washington Commander, a Rear Admiral, and whisked away to a conference room in the Headquarters Building where a larger group had already assembled. The DHS Intelligence Chief began the impromptu briefing.
“Admiral, the attack in Alexandria appears to have been well-planned and well-executed. You and your team were the targets, and the tactics indicate that the objective of the operation was to kill all of you. We are still trying to get our arms around all the elements of the attack. Here’s what we know now. Several Alexandria police cars were used to re-route traffic from the waterfront area and the vicinity of Mr. Matthews’ home. We are not sure how those cars were obtained by the perpetrators. The 911 emergency communications infrastructure was compromised and routed to a third party node we are still looking for. The call center staff thought it was an unusually quiet night. No one was notified. The telephone company logs show multiple calls from the waterfront area and nearby side streets so it appears that the neighborhood watch program is working well.”
The Intelligence chief recognized that his attempt at humor had backfired, and he pressed on, “The bulldozers were abandoned. One of them is completely submerged in the flooded basement of your home, Mr. Matthews. The choice of bulldozers is odd, and we assess that the planners believed that your house was built on a slab foundation. The tactical vehicles used in the operation disappeared. We found large temporary, peel-off decals used to make these vehicles look official in a dumpster near the Huntington Metro Station. It’s not known how the vans were marked underneath those decals, but we’ve requested the videotapes from the station. The entire operation took less than fifteen minutes. The Alexandria police force had been successfully diverted to a major fire that erupted at the Federal complex off Eisenhower Avenue in the southern part of the city. As you might have guessed, that report turned out to be erroneous. This was planned with the precision of a military operation that had been rehearsed multiple times beforehand.”
The intelligence chief nervously took a drink from his water bottle and continued, “We did not capture any of those involved and what we have left at the scene is a small battlefield. There’s no surveillance coverage in the area. Maybe some of the eye-witnesses can provide some more detail, but frankly I’m not hopeful. The helicopters flew from the Maryland side and followed the Wilson Bridge before hugging the shoreline until they took positions to the east of the objective area. No flight plans had been filed, and the spotty radar tracks did not conform to any threat profile that would have triggered an aircraft scramble in the National Capitol Region. Emergency vehicles, EMTs and private ambulance services were dispatched all over the city as a further diversion. A folder containing a timeline and a schematic of the area with Arabic notations, a set of Russian night vision goggles, and a commando knife of unknown origin have been recovered. Once daylight breaks, I’m sure other artifacts will be found. In my judgment, the scale of the attack and the planning that went into it point directly to an Al-Qaeda operation. That’s all I have for the moment. We’ll have a more comprehensive update for you tomorrow Admiral. Any questions?”
“Thank you,” Wright looked left and right to see if there were other questions. Dressed in charcoal grey slacks with a long-sleeved dark green plaid shirt, Wright exuded the command presence of a combat aviator addressing his squadron in the ready room before a combat mission. Getting up from his chair and turning to face the hastily assembled group, he made a sobering net assessment: “I’m sure that we were targeted, and this attack was obviously designed to kill us. It makes me wonder who else might be on the target list. I think we should bring in some of our military special ops guys to analyze this operation and give us any insights they can on what we are up against. I expect that the Secretary and I will brief the President tomorrow afternoon, and we need to get ready for the press. They will be all over this. Again, thanks for the update, and I hope that we’ll have something more definitive tomorrow. This pattern of attack, carried out by professionals with little or no conclusive evidence left behind, is getting very old. People are getting impatient and fearful and expect answers. We are targets right here inside our country. Our ramparts are no longer an ocean away.” The Admiral paused and smiled, looking directly at Sandy and said, “Thanks for a memorable evening,” laughing as he left the room.