The Bin Laden Plot

Secretary of the Navy Brenda Verbeck arrived, followed by Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Joe Sites. They took their seats beside Glass, while Christine sat beside Parham, chatting with him while waiting for the meeting to commence. An information specialist approached Verbeck, informing her that her brief was loaded, handing her the remote control as the wide-screen display on the far wall flickered to life. The title slide of her presentation appeared, containing a single, innocuous line: USS Stethem Incident. Hardison and the president entered the Situation Room a moment later.

The president took his seat at the head of the table and cast his gaze toward Verbeck, an attractive and articulate woman in her late forties, a rising star in the administration and one of the leading contenders for secretary of defense if Tom Glass moved on.

“What have you got, Brenda?”

“Good morning, Mr. President.” She pressed the remote control, advancing her brief to the next slide, displaying a map of the Persian Gulf annotated with the location of the incident. “As you’re aware, USS Stethem, an Arleigh Burke class destroyer on deployment in the Persian Gulf, was sunk four hours ago by a torpedo attack. Twenty-four crew members are reported missing and feared dead. Search efforts are continuing, but the odds that there are additional survivors are slim.”

Verbeck advanced the brief to the next slide, showing a satellite view of the Persian Gulf at the time of the attack, then zoomed in until the distinct bioluminescent trail of the torpedo intercepting Stethem could be seen.

“At the time of the attack, Stethem was operating in international waters just outside the twelve-nautical-mile limit from Iran. The most obvious scenario is that Stethem was sunk by an Iranian submarine. Iran has denied the attack, of course.”

“Did we have any indication of pending military engagement by Iran?” the president asked.

“No, sir. Only the standard indignant verbiage regarding the presence of American warships in the Gulf. The lack of ratcheting tensions between our two countries, although that is certainly not the case now, indicates there may be another potential scenario.”

Secretary Verbeck’s brief shifted to the next slide, showing a schematic of an unmanned undersea vehicle.

“We currently have a small fleet of large-diameter UUVs, called Scorpions, operating in the Persian Gulf. Their primary mission is surveillance, operating near the coast to intercept short-range electronic communications, which Iran and other countries have been using to thwart our satellite collection efforts. Due to the sensitive capabilities of these UUVs and the desire to keep their existence secret, they’re managed as a black program in concert with the CIA, which analyzes the information obtained.”

The brief advanced to another slide, which displayed a map of the Persian Gulf, divided into sectors.

“It turns out that the UUV assigned to the area where Stethem was operating has failed to report in. Every attempt to force it to report its location and status has failed.”

“The Iranians may have also destroyed our UUV?” the president asked.

Verbeck shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “No, Mr. President. The situation could be far more serious. Unknown to anyone outside the program, even the CIA” — she glanced briefly at Christine — “these UUVs are weaponized.” She clicked the remote control, advancing her brief to the next slide, showing a front view of the vehicle, which revealed two round portals in the bow. “Each Scorpion carries two torpedoes.”

The president’s gaze shifted slowly from the display to Verbeck. “Are you saying that one of our UUVs went renegade and sank Stethem?”

“It’s a possibility, sir. Nothing is certain, but the data is aligning that way. The UUV failed to report in several hours before the Stethem attack, and there was a previous concern that these UUVs were being rushed into service with insufficient testing.”

The president turned to the Chief of Naval Operations, who cleared his throat before speaking.

“Due to the crucial need for consistent electronic surveillance in the Middle East, Fifth Fleet submitted an Urgent Operational Need request. UONs enable the rapid fielding of new technology with limited testing. What Secretary Verbeck is alluding to is that the testing in this case may not have detected latent defects in the Scorpion’s artificial intelligence and attack protocol. Another possibility is that this UUV was hacked and a virus was inserted. We think that’s unlikely, however, due to the strict secrecy of this program — we doubt Iran or any other country is aware of the existence of these vehicles — which means the problem is most likely internal.”

“How do you recommend we proceed?” the president asked, turning back to Verbeck.