THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE watched closely as the men and women he summoned to the West Wing read the one-page document placed in front of each person. He knew them all and respected most: the heads of the FBI and CIA, the Deputy Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Treasury and, of course, the President’s Chief of Staff. At his nod, an aide walked around the table, picking up each document; there would be no leaks if he could help it.
He scanned the room one more time before he spoke, using silence to convey the seriousness of what he was about to say.
“This software must never see the light of day. Its development would cause immediate and serious harm to our nation’s security and no telling how badly it would affect the economy.”
A similar meeting was taking place in the large conference room at the Dooley Law Firm in Silicon Valley. Despite antitrust concerns, the participants were the CEOs of a group of influential technology companies. Jim Dooley, founder of the firm and respected advisor to many of these companies, had called the meeting. He was unaware of the White House gathering when he spoke. “This code must be destroyed; it must never see the light of day. The mere possibility of its existence is concern enough: this one product could wipe out your market valuations in a single day and thrust the entire world into a depression.”
The result of both meetings was the same. The attendees were to do whatever was necessary to make sure the software in question simply disappeared. The word “whatever” was the telling directive.