DHS–Domestic Terrorism
Annex
Washington, DC
April 02, 2018
Cass knocked and then opened Dan's door.
"Lieutenant Cass Thomas reporting for duty, sir."
Dan laughed and jumped up from his desk and shouted, "Hey Cass. Am I glad to see you! Sit down. Welcome to the DHS Domestic Terrorism Annex! You don't have a clue just how happy I am you are here."
"I'm glad someone's happy. My boss over at DSS was not pleased when the “by name" request hit his desk, but he'll get over it. I'm here for six months and that can be extended if the job is still required and you and I are not strangling each other."
"Good. I know your SCI clearance is being processed on the fast track, but I do have permission to read you in to some of the stuff we are working on in advance. Let's go to the War Room and start getting you up to speed."
Using a combination of his badge and a numeric keypad to open the door, he and Cass entered the War Room Dan created from a small unused conference room with a water leak in the ceiling that became an informal repository filled with project files, broken desk chairs, cork boards and posters. Dan emptied the room, had the leak fixed and navigated the bureaucracy to get it repainted, carpeted and fitted on three sides with parallel rows of roller clips where notes, presentations and maps could be hung up and easily rearranged. Well-lighted, the room still had a narrow conference table with six chairs and a light box for projecting. The fourth wall served as a makeshift screen.
"OK, let's start over here. This wall represents what the Task Force put together and the leads that have been generated and are still active. If you thought the Bureau of Naval Personnel moved at glacial speed, you should take a look at some of the other agencies. I'm sure a lot of this stuff got a full chain of command review before being released to Stormy Weather. I've learned first-hand that information is the coin of the realm here in DC."
Dan walked around the table and opened his arms. "On this wall are the international queries that we've made starting last fall when Meg Andrews and I were working together. She died because of this work so I know we are being watched from beyond these walls. Remind me to fill you in on the insider we recently flushed out who kept tabs on the department and Stormy Weather and reported regularly. The FBI and CIA are still working to get more details out of him, but it's slow going. They may try to turn him and get him to work for us."
"There's a lot of detail here, and it's spilled over onto the third wall but we're still nowhere close to connecting all the dots. One thing that would be helpful would be for you to look at all the stuff related to Albania and see what you can make of it. Sandy and I are planning a trip over there next week, but our objectives are fuzzy at this stage, so your input would be helpful." She acknowledged with a simple nod of her head.
He continued the whirlwind tour. "The third wall represents HUMINT reports from Al-Qaeda, ISIS, the Arabian Peninsula crowd and others captured in the last few years. You'll see my reports from a strange meeting over in Dubai with a man trying to convince me that Al-Qaeda was not responsible for the Veterans Day attacks, except for polluting the water supply up in Newport. Truth is, I believe him. The binders on the floor in front of each wall are my filing system and, as you can see, we're on our second course of files."
"OK, Dan, I've got it. This looks like mission impossible. By the way, in the US Navy, we call walls bulkheads, remember? Where's the coffee?
"We can get a cup down in the Admiral's office if you like black oil or let me take you across the street to a coffee shop that opens early and closes late. They have great coffee and you don't have to fight all the yuppies frequenting the better known shop on the other corner. Your call."
"Let's go across the street."