Chapter 19

Ben called the meeting much earlier than I expected at 1300; I had just put copies of everything into a folder when his call came in. The only way I was going to be on time was to helicopter over to the White House lawn. I put in a call to the Secret Service White House control room to tell them I was coming and to get the landing information.

I was flying over in one of the new Bell 407s that had been added to the fleet. Marcy and Lorrie had come up with a replacement schedule for some of the older helicopters; this was one of this year’s group. We had some that were at the end of air frame life. The inspections were starting to find cracks in places where they should not be. We were going to keep this one for executive use; today I was the lucky one.

Troy and the President met me after the rotor stopped turning. “Looks like a new toy,” the President said.

“It is; just fifteen hours on it,” I replied then I added, “The pilots have just about cleaned and waxed the new smell out if it.”

The President and Troy both climbed in and checked it out from one end to the other. They were in it long enough that the Secret Service came out in force to see what was going on.

“What is the meeting about that Ben called on such short notice? Some of the directors are fuming,” Troy asked.

“Terror attack in the near future, we need to use more to data from certain agency files to gather information to find the terrorists. We are not making the progress we need to be able to stop the attack. I have to get more agencies involved and I suspect one of the agencies is going to resist. You may want to call both Senate and House leaders so I can put them on the spot too,” I said.

Troy did one of those raised eyebrows look, then smiled, “ OK - you call them!”

“OK - after we review what I have,” I said as we walked to the White House side door.

On the way to Ben’s office I called the FBI explosives agent, “Come to the White House, NOW, expedite the trip and bring your explosives calculator,” I said.

Ben, the President, Troy and I went over the information that I had received from Robert. I felt the President needed a private briefing before the real meeting. First to allow him to see what we were working against.

I explained the avenues of investigation we wanted and why.

“Moving the satellite over Harrisburg and concentrating its cameras there should not be a problem. The IRS director is a whole different thing - he is as hard headed as you are but digs in his heels deep and likes to use the threat of media releases to stifle any opposition, no matter how wrong his position is,” Troy said.

“Do you remember the charter and organizational documents for the oversight committee I am in charge of?” I asked the pair.

“Vaguely?” the President answered.

“Part 4 paragraph 1 sub-section 10A - if necessary I will exercise that option today,” I said.

I was reading the documents and had marked the page in the manual during the flight over. I opened the book and slid it over to the President.

The President read and then slid the book to Troy.

“If that is what it takes, go for it. But you are right- call the House and Senate leaders and get them here. They have the necessary clearances to see this and have influence in the final outcome. This action may not be a smooth ride.”

“I do remember that a majority vote by the four of them and you can overrule actions I take under that section. That is why I want them here at the beginning; I don’t want to have to go through this twice,” I said.

I called the two leaders of the Senate - Colin Harrison and Hank Whitby - and the two House leaders - Rhonda Hall and John Lee.

I told them all the same thing, “There is an emergency meeting of the Terrorist Task Force with the oversight committee in the White House Lincoln meeting room in 30 minutes; your attendance is required.”

While I was doing that, Ben called the directors that he and I wanted at the meeting and emphasized the meeting was mandatory. We needed OSHA, Labor and IRS. The CIA and NSA that controlled the satellite were members of the Task Force as was DHS and FBI.

I called Art Cummins and asked him to join the meeting. Art had always been open to anything I did or tried to do to stay ahead of the terrorists. His response was “I am on the way.”

General Ingram came in a few minutes with a mug of coffee in each hand. He placed one in front of me. “Black, no cream no sugar. I figured you would need a reserve,” he said.

Andrew Pollard and Anne Hopkins were sitting in on this meeting; it would be our first as a group. It would be telling to watch their reactions to the events. Bobbie Canterberry was going to take notes for me.

Several of the directors were fussing about having to come to the meeting. To upset them even more, Bobbie passed out the confidentially statement that made this a top secret meeting and any discussion outside this room would incur jail time.

After the incidents of various agents and staff secretly recording meetings on phones, I walked around with the trash can and collected cell phones. I started with my people and went around the table.

“I am not putting my phone in there and I am not signing another nondisclosure statement for you,” IRS commissioner Isaac Campbell replied.

His phone was on the desk in front of him; I grabbed the phone as he tried to stop me. I palm slammed the phone over the edge of the heavy-duty metal trash can - breaking it in half - and I then threw it on the table in front of him. It was sparking and arcing.

“Sign the form unless you want me to break your fingers and use your blood to sign it,” I said.

There were big eyes all around the table except for the ones who knew me very well from the actions at Fort Smith.

He looked around and then signed the paper.

There was a knock on the door; it was the FBI explosive expert Casey Todd.

Casey was the go to man within the FBI; he was the guy who estimated how powerful various explosive mixes and compounds were. He had complete data on every commercial and every known homemade mix there was. It was his data the news media used anytime there was an explosion. Casey had supplied the data for all the bombs the task force collected as evidence including the estimates of the Minnesota college bombing.

I gave him the description of Jaed’s bicycle bomb and what I wanted while Bobbie passed the assembled data.