Chapter 471

It was 1300 on the nose when Ben Smith, Lesley Holtman, Bobby Canterberry and I went through the Pentagon security station. We were directed to meeting room 4.

I knew where room 4 was; that was the room where I met General Walton when we were discussing the initial C5 contract.

The people we were to meet were not in the room waiting and we were only a few minutes early. Ten minutes after the scheduled time, they were still not in the room; clearly an example of rank and authority that had been demonstrated at most high level meetings I had ever been to. It was an unwritten rule that high ranking officers always made the peons wait a show of power and its perks.

In the hall outside the meeting room was a desk similar to the ones used by high school students years ago. They must have been Government Issue forever. The chairs never fit and the desks were too small for adults.

I sent Ben and Lesley to bring both in and placed them opposite the big table. We waited another half hour before the members arrived. I moved all the water pitchers and glasses off the table.

Army chief of staff General Fillmore, Marine Lt. General David Wright, Air Force General Marvin Houlihan and Army General Alfred Drake finally came in and took seats at the table.

I recognized Lt. General Wright immediately; the last time I had seen him it was Major Wright. I wondered if he remembered me? He soon would. I walked over to the mismatched desk and chair and sat in the chair.

“My, my how things seem to go around if you wait long enough. Five years ago on July 1, 2012 at Kandahar Afghanistan. It was a fact finding investigation, preliminary to a court martial for the ambush of convoy 12630. I sat at a table identical to this one for four hours being interrogated on the first day without counsel or being offered even a drink of water or a bathroom break,” I said then added.

“Do you remember the investigation? You were Major Wright back then.”

The General’s eyes went to the ceiling then down to the table, before looking at me.

“I knew I recognized you from somewhere, those were not good times; the war was going badly. The pressure was on change that, find out why and put a stop it. Some things were just not handled very well, especially when the emphasis was on putting the blame on people who were following orders,” he said.

“Just about the way the war on terror is going,” I replied.

“Enough of ancient history, let’s deal with some current events. I just received the reports with redactions an hour ago, that I should have had days ago without redaction,” I said.

“Let’s start with the targeting information. How many sources do you use before you determine you have a valid target?” I asked.

“That’s classified,” General Houlihan replied.

“Who makes the target selections?”

“Classified,” General Houlihan replied.

“What is the time lapse from determining you have a valid target of opportunity and delivery of the munitions on the target?” I asked.

“Classified,” General Houlihan said again.

Ben was sitting at the table, slowly shaking his head at every answer.

“General Fillmore, the verification processes itself; do you get boots on the ground to do a visual on the body and collect DNA?”

“Classified.”

“General Wright, do the Marines put boots on the ground to verify, or use third party verification?” I asked.

General Wright - taking a page from the others - replied, “Classified.”

The agreement with the administration was set up that all reports that I required were to be void of redaction, I was to have full access and cooperation when I accepted the task force job. Obviously that was not the case where this group within the Pentagon was concerned.

“Excuse me for just a minute while I make a phone call,” I said as I stepped out of the room.

“You do not know who you are dealing with, do you?” Ben said after the door closed.

“She is just a short term political appointee,” General Drake replied.

“Then you didn’t do any research on Ambassador Jones at all. She has a broader top secret clearance than either of you. Your top secret clearance is Pentagon and service specific,” Ben said then continued.

“Her top secret clearance covers DHS, NSA, CIA, FBI and the State Department. Why, because her security group has undercover OPS ongoing with all of those agencies; some are national and many others are international,” Ben said and continued.

“Her embassy security teams are all ex-military, most of them Special Forces or special operations; they are investigated and cleared by NSA and CIA before they are hired and sent to their locations. The work they are doing can be that sensitive.”

“They are assigned intelligence gathering, trained in hostage extraction, and in some cases mission ready. She has a Special OPS and a Rapid Response team that HER planes can deliver worldwide in 24 hours. Those teams have drones capable of dropping antipersonnel and dumb bombs as well as delivering covering gunfire.”