Chapter 7
Under Their Noses
McClean, Virginia
National Counterterrorism Center
After meeting with the mayors and police chiefs of twenty-three different cities, Mike and Jim had identified what was working in the program and what was not. Some cities’ programs were better than others. Chicago was a great case study of how an effective refugee resettlement program could be run. Others, like the ones in Ohio, Michigan, and Texas, were not.
As Mike walked into the open room that was the nerve center of their little department, he quickly located Special Agent Leary. “Jim, I’m glad I found you before you got buried in something else,” Mike began. “I’d like you to work with a couple of the analysts and see what you can dig up on the groups of single military age males that appear to be settling in Chicago and Baltimore. The more I investigate it myself, the more I think there’s something fishy about the situation. Chief Monroe was right; there should have been more families interspersed in Chicago and Baltimore.”
Jim nodded. “I agree, Mike. I’ll grab a couple of analysts and we’ll see what we can find on them. We’ll get back to you by the end of the week.” He was glad he wasn’t the only one suspicious about the situation.
After grabbing a cup of coffee, Mike went back to his office to write up his report. He’d been writing bits and pieces of it after each city meeting, but now it was time to consolidate it and make his recommendations to his boss. Mike still wasn’t sure about Mallory Harper. She was an ardently loyal supporter of the current president and was really pushing this refugee program, but something was off. He just couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He didn’t have a problem with bringing in refugees, but he was definitely concerned they were letting in the wrong people.
Am I overthinking this? he wondered.
After lunch, Mike walked toward one of the screeners who Director Harper had said was flagging far more people than her colleagues as threats. He wanted to find out from her what she was finding that others were not.
Approaching her desk, he noticed the plethora of University of Texas memorabilia. He rapped his knuckles softly on the desk to get her attention. She looked up at him, almost caught off guard at how silently he’d snuck up on her.
“Hello, Julie,” Mike began. “We haven’t really had a lot of time to talk and get to know each other since I joined the team. Director Harper has had me traveling a bit, but I wanted to say hi and pick your brain a bit on something.” He sported a warm, inviting smile.
“Hi, Mike. Sure thing—what did you want to ask me about?” she asked tentatively. She was probably hoping she wasn’t in any more trouble with Director Harper.
Mike took a seat at the chair next to her desk. “I know Director Harper hasn’t been happy with the number of people you’ve been flagging as potential risks, but I’d like to talk with you about it and find out your side of the story. What do you think you’re seeing that the others aren’t?” he asked quizzically.
Julie sighed. She had a look on her face as if she’d just been called into the principal’s office at school. Meekly, she answered, “OK. Most of the individuals I’ve been marking as potential risks are the single Muslim men that have been requesting to be settled in Chicago and Baltimore.”
When Julie mentioned Baltimore and Chicago, he raised an eyebrow, then encouraged her to continue.
“For one, most of these men’s applications originate from two camps. Nearly all the applications for Chicago came from a camp in Harran, Turkey. This is only about 130 kilometers from Ar Raqqa, Syria, which is the location of the ISIS official headquarters. Most of the men applying to Baltimore come from the camp near Gaziantep, Turkey. Each of these camps have been previously identified as ISIS recruitment stations and have been the birthplace of a lot of extremist activity.”
Mike listened and then looked at several dossiers she showed him of people she had flagged. He sat back in his chair and thought about what this all meant, wondering if any of it correlated with what he had found when he was running the counter-ISIS team in Turkey.
Mike knew what she was implying but wanted to hear her say it for himself. “So, Julie, if I’m connecting the dots correctly, you believe some of these men may be ISIS fighters that are trying to infiltrate into the US, correct?”
Julie looked around the room to see if anyone else was listening to their conversation. In a lowered voice, she said, “I do. I think ISIS has managed to infiltrate several hundred of its members to these cities over the past three years that this program has been running. I tried to bring this conclusion to Director Harper, but she quickly shut me down. She said I was looking for ways not to support the President’s initiative. Honestly, though, my only objective is to protect our country. I don’t care about politics.”
Mike remembered that his own group in Turkey had suspected this and knew those camps were trouble. One of the ISIS operatives they’d interrogated had said they had already infiltrated hundreds of ISIS fighters into America. Of course, with no proof, this was just another unsubstantiated claim.
Mike looked Julie in the eyes and quietly replied, “I believe you.”
Julie looked surprised and then relieved.
He explained, “Before coming to the NCTC, I worked in Homeland’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis. I’m familiar with the camps you’re referencing. I’m also aware of this idea of using the refugee program as a means of infiltrating ISIS fighters into America. They had already used it successfully to infiltrate Europe.”
He paused for a second, considering his options, then continued, “To ease your problem with Director Harper, I’m going to tell her that you are going to work directly for me so I can ‘keep an eye on you,’ but in reality, I want you to work with Agent Leary on digging into the history of these refugees who’ve already settled into Chicago and Baltimore. I want to know more about them and see if we can’t identify some potential problem children.”
Mike needed to keep this activity on the down-low. He knew Director Harper wouldn’t agree. Having Julie work on the research was a win-win because he already knew that she agreed with his viewpoint, and she was equally motivated not to stir up any more trouble.
*******
A week had quietly gone by with Agent Leary and Julie doing some digging on the refugees from Chicago. Then, they found something worth immediate attention.
Jim knocked on Mike’s office door frame. “Mike, we have something we’d like to show you. This is big.”
“Sure thing,” Mike replied. “Come in and close the door. What have you guys found?”
Julie nodded for Jim to break the news. “Well, one of the guys who settled in Baltimore about a year ago is definitely a problem. His biographical information didn’t show any matches, so it’s easy to see how it could have been missed. We ran his biometrics against the FBI and DHS databases, and again, we got no matches. However, when we ran his biometrics against the DoD biometric database, we got a hit.”
Mike’s eyes lit up. “What type of hit was it?”
Jim continued, “His prints matched to several latent fingerprints that were recovered from an IED in Iraq in 2007 and to a weapon and computer that were recovered during a targeted raid in Yemen in 2013.”
Mike let out a soft whistle. This was an incredible find. This guy should never have been allowed in the US as a part of the refugee program. “Who conducted the screening of this individual?” asked Mike. He was going to want to talk with this analyst to find out why they hadn’t found this information on their own.
Julie piped in. “It was done by Constance Pool, one of Director Harper’s people that transferred here from the Senate Intelligence Committee she used to head.”
“Interesting…OK, here’s what I want you guys to do. Start working up this guy’s profile. Pull up all the data you can on him. See what you can find from his time in Iraq, and what possible connection he could have had in Yemen. I also want to know exactly what this guy has been up to since he arrived here in the US. It would be best if you could pull this together by the end of tomorrow,” Mike said, knowing that he was tasking them with a lot of information to gather.
He continued, “I’m going to brief this to Director Harper on Friday morning, during our leadership meeting. I’ll ask for permission for us to get a wiretap up on this guy and start monitoring all his electronic communications. I’m also going to see if we can assign someone from the Baltimore field office to monitor him as well.”
Julie spoke up, asking, “What are you going to do if she says no?”
Mike thought about that for a moment before responding, “Well, if she wants to play that game, I’ll talk to a few friends at Homeland and see what I can make happen,” he said with a slight chuckle.
Jim asserted, “You’d better be careful, my friend. If Director Harper ever catches wind that you went around her to another agency, she’ll chew you up and spit you out.”
Mike just smiled. “I guess we’ll just have to make sure we don’t get caught, then.”
Later that evening, Mike compiled a short message about what they had found and sent it over to Trevor at Langley. They had their first bread crumb of proof something amiss was going on.
*******
Over the next twenty-four hours, Julie and Jim worked to put together as comprehensive a dossier on the target as possible. They presented the document to Mike an hour before his morning meeting with Mallory. As Mike perused the dossier, he was impressed with what his small team had found in such a short time.
The target was a man named Khalid Mohammed al-Baghdadi. He had apparently matched to three separate IED attacks: one in 2004, another in 2006, and a third in 2007. Khalid was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1982 to a wealthy Sunni family. His father had worked in the Ministry of Defense prior to the fall of the Saddam regime. Official documents showed that Khalid had obtained an engineering degree from the University of Baghdad before he joined the Iraqi Intelligence Service. From the government documents seized in 2003, Khalid was assigned to a counterintelligence program and had specialized experience in counterinsurgency operations. Prior to the 2003 war, he had been working in the Kurdish areas. When the war broke out, he was transferred to Baghdad. That was the last official report before the government fell.
As he continued reading, he reflected. He could see why this guy had been hard to track—he’d been trained on how not to be found. But something bothered him. Why would his fingerprints have been found on an IED? he wondered.
Mike looked up at Jim and Julie, who were still in the room, waiting for feedback. “This is great work, you guys. What I’d like you research further is the IED attacks where his fingerprints were found. What kind of IED attacks were they? Were they simple devices, or something more specialized and complex? This guy appears to be too smart to be the one placing IEDs on the side of roads, and I’m not certain he had the training necessary to build them. I could be wrong, but I’d like you guys to look into the details of the attacks for further clues, OK?”
They nodded in agreement as they scribbled a few notes.
He closed the dossier and grabbed his notepad. “I’ve got to run to the meeting now, but see if you can find that information for me ASAP.” Julie and Jim nodded, and Mike headed out of his office and knocked on Mallory’s door.
“Boss, I know you’re busy, but I’ve got something I should brief you on before we have this leadership meeting,” he asserted.
“Mike, I’m really busy right now. Just brief it in the meeting, OK?” she urged.
“I think you’re going to want to hear it beforehand,” he emphasized.
“No, I really don’t have time. I’m sure it will be fine, just brief the group,” she said. Then she frantically began to type something on her computer.
Mike decided not to push it any further. He replied, “All right, Boss,” then headed back to his desk. He printed some documents and then made his way toward the conference room where the leadership meeting took place every Friday.
As Mike walked in, everyone was still mingling and talking about what they were going to do that weekend. Most of the group was gaggled around the doughnuts and coffee that had been delivered to the room a few minutes before he arrived. As everyone was grabbing their morning java, Mike took his seat next to where Director Harper would be sitting.
*******
Mallory walked into the conference room, ready to begin what she probably thought would be another mundane Friday update meeting. She’d finished reviewing Mike’s field report, and she had to admit, she was impressed. He was immaculately detailed in his assessment and had identified several specific aspects of the refugee programs that had been implemented that had worked well and had also outlined those that had not. He also put together what she thought was an exceptional recommendation for a refugee resettlement program that could be replicated across the country.
She had initially been mad at Mike for missing her deadline and asking for an extra day to complete the report, but once she received it, she was pleasantly surprised. She felt as if she’d finally found a solid Number Two, one who understood the President’s refugee agenda and would work to see it implemented.
As Mallory took her seat, she smiled at Mike and signaled for everyone to begin their updates. Each department head gave their weekly recap of what their department had been working on, along with any significant activities that had come up.
As the meeting neared its conclusion, Director Harper noticed that Mike hadn’t spoken yet and had a file in front of him that was labeled “Eyes Only.” She tapped the table in front of him. “Mike, I think it’s your turn. You have something to share with the group?” she asked.
He seemed hesitant. “I can, but I believe this might be better discussed privately,” he contended.
“Nonsense,” she said encouragingly. “We’re all one team. Go ahead, Mike. We’ll tackle whatever it is as a group.”
Taking a deep breath before he began, Agent Stone began to pass out a summary to each department head and to Director Harper.
As they reviewed the summary, he began to brief them on what he’d found. He explained how he had a hunch something just wasn’t right with the disproportionate number of single males being resettled in Chicago and Baltimore. He then ran their biometrics against the DoD terrorist watch lists and the DoD latent fingerprint databases, just in case they found a match.
Unfortunately for Director Harper, Mike’s thorough investigation had actually identified one person who, in all honesty, should never have been allowed into the refugee program or permitted to enter the US. As everyone looked over the summary, several people had questions. Mallory just sat silently, letting everyone else talk while she pondered what to do about the information Mike had just unearthed.
Several department heads were asking questions all at the same time. “Who did the vetting of this individual? Why was he not flagged?” Another department head added, “We need to find this person and figure out what he’s been doing since he arrived here. This is a huge screwup if this guy has done something.”
Director Harper cleared her throat, indicating she wanted everyone to be quiet for a minute. As she surveyed the faces in the room, she then turned to her side and said, “Mike, this is an incredible find. We should have a talk with the person who conducted this man’s screening. This should have been found during that process. That said, we obviously can’t let this refugee continue to freely walk around in Baltimore. We need to figure out what he’s been up to, who he’s been meeting with, and what he’s been doing in Baltimore the past thirteen months since he’s been here.”
Looking toward her FBI and US marshal representatives, she continued, “I would like your organizations to work together and get this person apprehended immediately. We need to keep this as hush-hush as possible. I don’t want local law enforcement involved, and I don’t want this getting out into the press. This is the type of thing that could really embarrass our department and the President. Does everyone understand?” she asked in a very stern voice.
Everyone nodded. The meeting quickly ended, and Director Harper told Mike to follow her to her office. When they walked into the room, she motioned for him to take a seat. “Please close the door.” Then she walked over to the window that faced out into cubicle land and closed the blinds.
She turned to Mike and immediately tore into him. “What was that?” she yelled. “You embarrassed me in front of my division heads! You should have brought this information to me privately, so we could discuss it and what to do with it. Now everyone in the department will know about it in short order!” She seethed, clearly irate at being blindsided. Mike just sat there, silent.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” she demanded, in a slightly lower voice than her previous yelling.
Clearing his throat, Mike calmly responded, “Director Harper, you’re right. I should have brought this to you first. I did try to talk to you privately before the meeting, but you were clearly preoccupied with something important and told me to just brief it during the meeting, which I did. That said, the leadership meeting wasn’t the worst place to bring this up, since we are going to need assistance from the FBI and NSA to find out what this guy has been up to electronically, and the marshals have the manpower to place a tail on this guy or apprehend him when the time comes.”
If Mallory Harper’s eyes could have killed, Mike would’ve dropped to the floor right then and there. “You don’t understand,” she insisted. “This program is already under enough scrutiny by congressional leaders. If they caught wind of this, they would demand to hold hearings. It would be a witch hunt and an embarrassment to the administration, especially since we’re about to ramp up the number of refugees we are going to take in. With this being an election year, we don’t need to give the GOP any additional cannon fodder to use on the campaign trail.” She gradually calmed down as she spoke.
Mike sighed before he responded, “I see your point. I wasn’t aware that this program was already under a tight microscope by Congress; this is only my second month here. I do still believe bringing this forward now is a good thing. Can you imagine if we hadn’t found this guy and he’d somehow pulled off a terrorist attack during the campaign? That would be gold for the GOP.”
He continued, “Look at it from this perspective. If this guy has been up to something nefarious, then you’ll get to look like the hero for finding out before he did something terrible.”
Mallory’s shoulders slumped in resignation. “Well, I suppose we could spin it that way. In either case, what’s done is done. You found something that could be damaging to this office, so we need to act on it. Who was the analyst who signed off on the vetting package?” she asked, wanting to get this problem nipped in the bud quickly.
Mike pulled a piece of paper from the folder he had brought with him to the meeting and handed it to Mallory. “It was Constance Pool. The file had originally been flagged by George Lee before Constance overrode his objection and approved it.” Mike was pulling no punches in his response.
Mallory sat back for a second, lost in thought. Constance had been one of the people she had brought over from Senator Feinstein’s staff. She was a real team player, which was why Mallory had named her as one of the team leaders to oversee several contractor analysts and some of the junior government employees.
“Are you sure?” asked Mallory, hoping that maybe Mike was wrong.
“Yes,” he answered in a very matter-of-fact tone. “Julie Wells verified it before handing me the information.”
Great, she thought. Wells—another person who would do anything to sabotage this program. She let out one long, slow breath.
“Send her to my office on your way out. I will talk with her,” she said. Her voice betrayed her sense of defeat.
As Mike was getting up, he asked, “What do you plan on doing with her?”
Mallory snorted before responding, “I’m going to have to suspend her and revoke her clearance with the NCTC. It’ll be up to HR as to where she goes next or if she’ll be terminated.” Mallory was irritated by the question. She didn’t like the insinuation that she might try to sweep this under the rug.
After Mike left Director Harper’s office, a lightbulb went off in her head as she connected the dots in her memory. She picked up her secured Blackberry and sent a quick text message to the National Security Advisor, Leah Bishop. “We need to talk ASAP. We may have a problem.”
A couple of minutes later, she received a response. “Meet me at the Lincoln Memorial in two hours.”
*******
Exactly two hours later, Leah was sitting on a bench facing one way while Mallory sat nearby facing the opposite direction. Both had their cell phones out as if they were talking to someone, while in reality, they were talking to each other.
“What’s the problem that required me to have to meet you?” Leah asked, a bit annoyed at having to take time out of her day.
Mallory replied, “You remember that name you gave me at Senator Warren’s cocktail party two years ago? The one where that waiter spilled an entire glass of wine on your husband? You asked me to expedite his vetting and get him approved through the refugee program.”
Leah thought for a minute, and then she remembered. The name had been given to her by Nihad Nassimi, the National Director for CAGIR. He had said “friends of the administration” would be very appreciative for any assistance in speeding up his vetting, to the tune of half a million dollars to her husband’s congressional reelection campaign SuperPAC in New York. At the time, it hadn’t seemed like a big deal.
Leah replied, “Yes, now I remember. I’m not sure I recall the man’s name, but I do remember the conversation. My husband was pissed off at that waiter; he had to leave early, and he still had a couple of people to talk to about campaign donations.”
“Well, there’s a problem with him,” blurted Mallory.
Leah interrupted, “—What do you mean, ‘problem,’ exactly?”
“My new deputy—he did some digging into some of the people we had cleared. This particular guy is linked to three separate IED attacks in Iraq, and his biometrics were found on some computers and documents of a Special Forces raid conducted in Yemen six months prior to us approving his refugee application,” Mallory said.
There was an awkward pause. Leah thought for a minute. My God, this is a huge problem. If this gets out, I’m toast, and the President is going to crucify me.
We hope you are enjoying the book so far. To continue reading...
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
Please log in to recommend or discuss...
