by Mike Maden
“And all free?” Myers asked.
“It’s the oldest trick in the book. Every dealer knows to give a free bump to a prospective client. They get a taste for it, then they get hooked,” Madrigal said. The DEA chief had been an effective undercover agent in her early years with the agency.
“The only difference is, the free bump has turned into a full ride. Two full weeks and still counting, from what our CIs are telling us. This little stunt that Castillo has pulled must have cost him tens of millions of dollars, not counting his loss of profits,” Jackson added.
“And once Castillo started handing out meth like Pez candies, the other dealers outside of the Castillo network had to do the same. You know, a price war. Only the price was zero. At that price point it’s all about getting new clients or keeping current ones. I hate the son of a bitch for doing it, but you have to admire the sheer genius of it,” Madrigal said.
Myers picked up the evidence bag again. Fingered its contents through the plastic. A campaign button from last year. She read it. MYERS. FOR A BRIGHTER FUTURE. She turned to Jackson, grimacing. “Every bag?”
“The ones Castillo passed out. Probably knockoffs of the original. His message is as subtle as a heart attack,” Jackson said.
“Well, that’s what I get for trying to send my own message to a psychopath.” Myers tossed the bag back onto the table.
“He can’t give free meth away forever. He’ll eventually go bankrupt, or his network will turn against him. The only thing more addictive than meth is money,” Jackson said.
“I want options for shutting down Castillo’s whole network over here. Maybe all the other networks, too.”
Madrigal sighed. What did Myers think the law enforcement community had been trying to do for the last thirty years? “More agents in the field,” Madrigal offered. She already knew the answer.
“Tell Congress to cut some fat somewhere else and you can get them. But I wouldn’t hold your breath,” Myers said.
Jeffers laughed. “Good thing the vice president didn’t hear you say that.” Greyhill had been dispatched to a base-closing ceremony in Virginia yesterday.
“Finish the border fence. Now,” Early said.
“Again, Congress. No money, no will. They’ve been promising to finish it for years.”
“Why not just strengthen the Mexican military and police forces?” Jeffers asked. “Let them do the heavy lifting.”
Donovan took that one. “It’s a damn mess down there. Just recently, three Mexican army generals were arrested for drug trafficking, including the second in command at their Defense Ministry, and corrupt Federal Police murdered two of our CIA agents.” Donovan shook his head. “Back in ’97, the head of the INCD—their version of the DEA—was arrested for working with a couple of the cartels.”
“Are you suggesting that every Mexican official is corrupt?” Jeffers asked.
“Not at all. The problem is, you can never be sure which one is—or soon will be. And it’s not just Mexico. Back during the Clinton years, we tried to clean up the corruption in Guatemala. Over the years, they’ve had several generals and former intelligence chiefs arrested for drug trafficking. So somebody got the bright idea to build our own incorruptible version of a Guatemalan DEA—an outfit called DOAN. We spent millions on it. We handpicked the recruits, paid them good salaries, armed them, trained them—the whole nine yards. Wasn’t long before we caught those guys torturing and killing the competition in order to get a leg up on their own drug trafficking operations. That’s why we just shipped two hundred of our own U.S. Marines down to Guatemala to do the fighting. The bottom line is that when we arm and train anybody south of the border for antidrug operations, there’s a good chance they’ll eventually use that training against us. Unless you change the culture of corruption, the institutions will continue to become corrupted.”
Myers frowned. “As I recall, that was a line I used in my campaign against Washington politics.”
Donovan nodded back. “I know. I was there when you delivered it at the convention.”
“What if we just stay out of the mess altogether? Let the cartels keep fighting it out among themselves down there. Eventually they’ll bleed themselves to death, won’t they?” Early asked.
“Perhaps, but they may well bring down the entire Mexican government in the process,” Strasburg said. He’d been carefully listening to the whole conversation.
“How?” Early asked.
“The primary function of the state is to provide for common security. Cartel violence, once it escalates beyond a critical point, will cause individuals to abandon the state and resort to their own private means to find their own security. Anarchy will be the result.”
“Civil war and mass migration wouldn’t be far behind,” Donovan speculated.
“Our primary interest in Mexico is stability. The ongoing drug wars within Mexico are destroying any hope of maintaining that stability, and the United States cannot afford to share two thousand miles of border with a failed state. Beyond the fact that Mexico is a significant trading partner, a failed Mexico would become a haven for our worst enemies, much the same way as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Yemen have harbored al-Qaeda.”
Strasburg took a sip of water. “At the risk of seeming too pedantic, I would remind those present of the history of the Peloponnesian War. Athens and Sparta were the two dominant powers in Greece, with all other lesser city-states allied with one or the other. This is analogous to the present-day situation in Mexico. The two most powerful cartels are the Castillo Syndicate and the Bravo Alliance. All of the lesser cartels have aligned themselves with one of these two organizations. Is that an accurate analysis, Mr. Jackson?”
Jackson nodded. “Quite accurate, and an appropriate analogy.”
“As I recall, the end result of the Peloponnesian War was utter economic devastation and the end to the Golden Age of Greece,” Myers added.
“That is correct,” Strasburg said. “And exactly the scenario we’re looking at if present trends continue.”
“Almost all of the violence associated with the drug war, particularly the slaughter in Mexico, but to a lesser extent, also in this country, is an attempt to gain monopolistic control of the drug trade, including manufacturing in Mexico and distribution in the U.S. Bribes and corruption are part of the same pattern,” Madrigal added.
“Then the best thing we can do is to pick sides, it seems to me,” Myers concluded. “Pick one side and end the war. At least that would stop the violence and bring some form of stability.”
The room went silent, processing the implications of that statement.
“Objections?”
“How would you accomplish that?” Donovan asked.
Myers and Early shared a look. They kept their secret weapon—Pearce—to themselves.
“Decapitate the Castillo cartel.” Myers spat it out like the answer to an algebra problem. No emotion. Just fact.
“That’s quite an escalation, if you don’t mind my saying,” Donovan said.
“It’s what we did to take out the al-Qaeda leadership. It’s even how we battled the Mafia in this country. If you take out the Castillo leadership, you don’t have a Castillo organization,” Myers countered.
“With the added bonus that the Bravos will know we took out Castillo, will know we put them in power, and will know that we can take them out, too, if they cross us,” Early said.
“Just for argument’s sake, under what authority would you carry this out?” Donovan asked.
“According to the Constitution, the presidency possesses sole and supreme authority to wage war against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” Myers said.
“But Castillo is a criminal, not a terrorist,” Donovan countered.
“What’s the difference between a criminal and a terrorist? Legally?” Jeffers asked.
“All terrorist
s are criminals in the eyes of the law, but not all criminals are terrorists,” Lancet answered. “And criminals have rights that terrorists don’t.”
“So what is a terrorist?” Early asked.
“That’s another interesting question. International law has no set definition of terrorism, which makes sense, considering the fact that one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. The U.S. Criminal Code, on the other hand, sets out a number of acts that fall under the rubric of either international or domestic terrorism, including acts that are ‘dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States’ and that appear to be intended ‘to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction.’”
“The ‘free meth’ attack perfectly fits that description in my mind,” Myers said. “Who decides if ‘free meth’ is an act of terrorism or if these men really are terrorists?”
“You,” Lancet said.
“That’s convenient,” Jeffers said.
Lancet continued. “You can thank the previous administration for that. The Holder DOJ issued a white paper that said, in effect, it’s lawful for the United States to conduct a lethal operation outside of the United States so long as ‘an informed, high-level government official’ of the U.S. government has determined that the targeted individual poses an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States. ‘Imminent,’ of course, being broadly redefined to mean ‘not necessarily in the near future,’ believe it or not.”
“But wasn’t that white paper referring specifically to the targeted killings of American citizens abroad who were members of al-Qaeda?” Donovan asked.
“Yes, but the principle would apply even more so to foreign nationals, in my opinion, at least according to the Constitution.”
“So the bottom line is, if I determine that the Castillo organization is a terrorist organization and poses an imminent threat to the health and safety of this country, I have the constitutional authority to act against them?” Myers asked.
Lancet nodded. “In terms of constitutionality, I would say yes. Congress, on the other hand, would almost definitely disagree.”
“The vice president as well, I’m sure,” Jeffers added.
“You’re referring to the War Powers Resolution,” Myers said.
“Yes, and by extension, the Authorization to Use Military Force that was passed in 2001 in response to 9/11. Congress authorized the president to deploy U.S. military forces to kill or capture members of al-Qaeda and related organizations responsible for the attack. The drone attacks and targeted killings of terrorists since then have all fallen under the AUMF. Congress hasn’t given you such authorization yet for operations against the drug cartels.”
“Because I haven’t asked for it. Should I?”
“You could,” Jeffers said. “But then they wouldn’t give it to you, at least not without steep concessions. The hawks would want all of their spending increases restored, and the progressives would want their piece of the fiscal pie, too, so say good-bye to your budget freeze and the balanced budget amendment.”
“So I have to fight Congress before I can fight Castillo? No, thank you,” Myers said. “Besides, many legal scholars question the constitutionality of the WPR. No president from Nixon through Obama has ever agreed that the WPR has binding authority over the office. Isn’t that correct, Dr. Strasburg?”
“That is correct, Madame President,” Strasburg said with a smile. “Yourself included, apparently.”
Jeffers nodded. “No president has ever agreed that the WPR is legally binding, but for the most part, they’ve all adhered to the WPR out of political expediency because Congress is the place where the defense checks get written.”
“Which actually leads to another broad area of law to consider,” Lancet said. “It’s a question of scale. The constitutional debates surrounding the War Powers Resolution notwithstanding, the president has the unchallenged right to deploy limited force in specific situations. The point of War Powers was to keep us out of large-scale foreign wars without congressional approval, not to keep us out of all military engagements.”
“So, just to be clear, if I issue an executive order declaring Castillo and his organization an imminent terrorist threat, I have at least some legal ground to stand on?” Myers asked.
“In my opinion, yes, so long as the attack complies with the four fundamental law-of-war principles.”
“Which are?”
“Necessity, distinction, proportionality, and humanity—avoiding unnecessary civilian deaths. Feasibility of capture and undue risk to U.S. personnel should also be taken into consideration. That’s why targeted drone strikes have been so popular. They tend to meet all of those law-of-war principles.”
Myers and Early exchanged another glance. Still not the time to talk about Pearce.
“Would the ACLU agree with your analysis?” Jeffers asked.
Lancet barked out a laugh. “Hell, no! There are as many opponents to drone strikes as there are supporters, and they are on both sides of the aisle. But opinions change, don’t they? Harold Koh was one of the Bush administration’s harshest critics, particularly in regard to waterboarding, which he viewed as an act of torture and a violation of human rights. But when he became the legal advisor for President Obama’s State Department, he suddenly became an ardent proponent of targeted killings and drone strikes.”
“So splashing a little water on my face is bad, but blowing me up with a Hellfire missile is okay?” Early asked.
“Where you stand depends on where you sit, right?” Lancet said. “You know, there’s actually one interesting argument about drones. Because they are unmanned weapons systems, no actual U.S. personnel are sent into combat. Some folks think that means drones aren’t technically ‘armed forces’ and therefore War Powers doesn’t apply anyway.”
Donovan leaned forward on his elbows. “Aren’t we missing something here? We’re talking about an attack on Mexican citizens on Mexican soil. Isn’t that an act of war?”
Strasburg cleared his throat. “The Mexican government might take umbrage at the assault, but I doubt they’d consider it an act of war. If they did, they would have to respond in kind.” The old diplomat allowed himself a smile. “There isn’t much chance of that, is there? Consider the Pakistanis. SEAL Team Six sent troops into Pakistan without either their knowledge or permission and killed Bin Laden, primarily because we couldn’t trust the Pakistanis to not betray the operation or warn Bin Laden in advance. The Pakistani government was deeply offended by the Bin Laden raid and our relationship with them is still badly strained. But in the final analysis, what are they going to do about it?”
“I would think the Mexican government would be grateful to us for the elimination of the most powerful drug cartel inside their nation,” Myers said.
“You’d think,” Madrigal said.
“Faye, would you be kind enough to draft the executive order I’ve suggested?”
Lancet nodded. “Of course. I’ll coordinate with Sandy. What about your Office of Legal Counsel?” She was referring to the department within the DOJ that represents the president’s legal interests. That person was always an assistant attorney general.
“I need as few cooks in the kitchen as possible, at least for now. I’d consider it a favor if you could draft the documents in question personally.”
“I’ll also prepare a brief on the legal issues we’ve discussed, as well as a thorough review of all the other pertinent issues. No telling when it might come in handy.”
“Like during an impeachment hearing?” Jeffers chuckled.
Myers added, “Please be sure to write it up as a national security measure. That way it can remain secret and exempt from any FOIA requests, should they arise.”
“You know they will, eventually,” Jeffers said.
“Good, then. I think that concludes our business f
or today.”
That was Myers’s signal that the meeting was adjourned. The other cabinet members began filing out.
“Mike, do you mind staying behind for a few minutes?”
“Not at all.”
When they were finally alone, Myers said, “I need you to call Pearce.”
“I don’t think that’s an option. He told us one job, one mission only,” Early reminded her. “Besides, you don’t need him. You already have the security apparatus in place and the Predators to do it with.”
“You mean the Committee?” Myers was referring to the national security team responsible for helping draw up the kill list that President Obama used to personally pick the human targets for Predator strikes. She shuddered. Over a hundred people teleconferencing on a weekly basis, debating the merits of each case, like lawyers cross-examining silent defendants and then answering for them. If the answers came out wrong, the defendants were executed, courtesy of a Hellfire missile.
Myers had inherited the system from the previous administration, but after one tortuous session debating the biographies of suspected terrorists, she ceded her role on the Committee to the secretary of defense. She didn’t have any qualms about selecting targets and taking them out. She just hated micromanaging, so, unlike her predecessor, she left the final selection of al-Qaeda targets to the al-Qaeda experts.
“No, Mike. Too many people involved. Too many turf battles. Too many uncoordinated bureaucratic systems trying to mesh together—army, navy, air force, CIA—each with their own SOPs. I still need this thing to be kept under wraps and I can only do that if it’s done quickly, with surgical precision.”
“You really do need Pearce, then.”
“I do. So go get him for me.”
20
Snake River, Wyoming
Pearce was up to his waist in the slow-moving river, dead drifting with a dry Yellow Sally for spotted brown salmon, when Early moseyed up behind him on shore.
“You’re like a bad penny,” Pearce said. He didn’t bother to turn around. “Can’t you see I’m busy?”
