10:01pm
The Streicher mansion in Bel Air
The guests never knew what hit them. The King Air 350 travelling at 310 knots entered to the front door of the mansion on a steep sixty degree angle. There was a huge explosion and a fireball that rose a thousand feet into the air. The fireball was visible for miles. The four cylinders had been loaded with two hundred pounds each of a mixture of 21% benzene, 33% gasoline, and 46% polystyrene. This mixture is generally known as napalm B. The white phosphorous detonators worked to perfection. Windows of nearby residences were shattered and a crater measuring over two hundred feet in diameter replaced the mansion. What did not blow up burned to ashes in seconds. There were no survivors.
April 5, 2015
12:58am
George Washington National Forest
The sixteen MAIMS fired off into the foggy sky. Ten minutes after liftoff the three vans, minus the US National Park Service markings, departed the launch site and drove west on Highway 59. They would turn south on Highway 259 and proceed to Harrisonburg, which was seventy minute drive. At Harrisonburg they would drive south on I-81. The vans would reach Roanoke in two and a half hours and disperse at that point.
1:01am
A parking lot near Howard University
Washington, DC
A black pickup truck pulled into the deserted parking lot. The man in the passenger seat pushed a button on his computer and sixteen mortar configured aerial fireworks launched from the bed of the pickup. The aerial mortars had no burst and only showed a dramatic golden flash as they rocketed skyward. After the simultaneous launch the black pickup drove away into the Washington, DC, night. The flashes were observed by dozen of witnesses.
1:02am
Bryant Street Pumping Station
301 Bryant Street
Washington, DC
The four MAIMS slammed into the pumping station at a speed of Mach 6. Each missile contained twenty-four hundred and ninety six cubic inches of high explosives. The pumping station was completely destroyed in less than one second. The water to the part of Washington DC that housed most of the buildings in the Federal Government was now shut off.
1:02am
888 First Street NE
Headquarters, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Washington, DC
Two MAIMS loaded with high explosives hit the building. One second later two more MAIMS armed with incendiary payloads set the building ablaze. The high explosive devices had been programmed to hit one second before the incendiaries.
1:02am
445 12th Street SW
Headquarters, Federal Communications Commission
Washington, DC
Two MAIMS blasted the building with high explosives and a second later two more missiles bearing incendiary material hit and engulfed the building in flames.
1:02am
1111 Constitution Avenue
Headquarters, Internal Revenue Service
Washington, DC
After blasting two huge holes in the building with high explosives delivered via MAIMS, the building caught fire as two incendiary missiles hit a second after the explosions.
Within minutes the alarm was sounded and Engine Companies 15, 19, 25, 32, and 33 of Battalion 3 of the Washington DC Fire Department responded. Soon eight more engine companies were requested and provided from nearby battalions. The firefighters began to set up operations to combat the blazes now raging out of control at three Federal buildings and found to their horror that the water pressure was almost non-existent. One engine company had been called to the Bryant Street Pumping Station due to the explosions and reported that the building was a complete loss. The firemen watched helplessly as the headquarters for the FERC, FCC, and IRS burned to the ground.
CHAPTER 13 - ANGER OF THE PEOPLE
Sunday, April 5, 2015
6:00 am
Washington, DC
The residents of the nation’s capital awoke to the news from the print media, television, and internet news that Washington had been attacked in the early morning hours. Also featured were stories about a tragic airplane accident that involved hitting a mansion in a rich suburb of Los Angeles in which a number of notable people had perished. The local story about several key Government buildings being attacked and destroyed garnered most of the local news coverage. The buildings that housed the headquarters of the FCC, FERC, and IRS had been totally destroyed by explosions and subsequent fires. Adding to the shock was a report that the Bryant Street Pumping Station had been completely destroyed and major parts of the city were either without water entirely or operating with greatly reduced water pressure. In particular, Howard University was totally without any water service and had to cancel all university functions. There were unconfirmed reports of witnesses near Howard University observing rockets being fired from a vehicle just prior to the explosions.
The national security organizations of the United States had kicked into high gear. The National Terrorism Advisory System of the Department of Homeland Security issued an advisory of “Imminent Threat” for the Washington, DC, area. The National Security Agency, NSA, cancelled all vacations and ordered all personnel to report for duty. The NSA headquarters at Ft. Meade, Maryland, was operating at full capacity.
Hawkins had expected and planned for the rapid response from the US intelligence organizations. He had ordered in advance the message from Yemen to be sent to Hamtramck, Michigan, so that it would be received at 9:00 am, local Michigan time.
April 5, 2015
2:00am
Thirty miles northwest of Sana’a, Yemen
Placing himself between two large boulders, the Mossad operative unfolded a six foot antenna and attached it to his laptop. He activated the programmed disk with its message and waited eighty-five seconds for the confirming reply from Michigan. The message sent was encrypted in a code that NSA had cracked years earlier. The translation from Arabic:
“Glory to Allah. The evil infidels have been harshly punished. We have crippled their ability to collect money, approve energy projects, and manage their vile communications. The smart mortar that our friends in China have provided worked to perfection. The targeting information that the Howard students provided was perfectly accurate. Glory to them in their pursuit of our Jihad and dedication to the faith. Our martyred brothers in California have made the ultimate sacrifice to the holy cause. They have destroyed the decadent Jew whore and her Zionist sympathizing friends. Soon the American public will know the severe consequences of supporting the unholy cause of Zionism. Too bad they are unaware that we bought the airplane at one of their own seized property sales. We must keep that secret so that we may avail ourselves of that source in the future. Glory to Allah.”
At 2:03 am the man dressed as a local desert dwelling Yemeni removed the antenna, folded it up and placed it along with message disk he removed on top of the laptop. He then inserted a second disk into the laptop. In ten seconds the laptop began burning with high intensity and became a pile of unrecognizable plastic, metal, and silicon junk. As the laptop burned, the man got in his Jeep and drove away into the night.
April 5, 2015
9:01am
An alley behind a mosque in Hamtramck, Michigan
Mikos received the message from Yemen and activated the reply from the disk he placed into his laptop. The confirming message, encrypted in the same code and Arabic language as the received message, stated:
“Glory to all in our holy efforts. Information received and confirmed. All went according to Allah’s will. Those of us living in the midst of the infidels will continue our efforts towards the ultimate victory. We are few now but we will become many. The martyrdom of our brethren in California will not be in vain. May Allah be with you.”
Mikos walked a half a block down the alley and entered a deserted store. He removed the message disk and antenna and placed them on top of the laptop. Inserting a disk into the laptop he waited ten seconds for the incendiary to begin working and
left the store, heading down the alley to the street where he took a right turn and walked three blocks to his waiting car. Thirty minutes later he was having breakfast in Greek Town.
April 5, 2015
9:41am
Ft. Meade, Maryland
NSA Headquarters
The computers had picked up the transmissions from Yemen and Hamtramck as they were made. The filtering and decoding process took less than twenty minutes. Specialists had read and analyzed the messages and judged them to be authentic and critical to the national security crisis unfolding. The exact locations of the transmissions had been fixed by GPS. The information gleaned by NSA was provided to the National Security Council who was in constant session since the early morning hours. Then things began to slow down. Every member of the National Security Council had to offer his or her opinion on the NSA intelligence. Finally, some three hours after receipt of the information, somebody suggested that a search of the location in Hamtramck be executed. Two hours later the search revealed that a pile of melted junk found in an abandoned store near the mosque was likely the remains of a computer that could have been used in the transmissions. Two days later a similar pile of junk was located in the Yemen desert.
April 5, 2015
10:00am
IRS Headquarters, Washington, DC
The scene was similar to a playground dispute between fifth graders in that several Federal agencies were arguing as to who was in charge. The IRS Criminal Investigations Division maintained that since the attack was on their facility they should take the lead in the investigations. Homeland Security decided that the attack was of a terrorist nature and therefore they should be in charge. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, known as ATF, demanded that the ATF be in charge because explosives were used in the attack. The FBI deemed itself to be the lead agency because, well, they were the FBI. The arson investigators from the Washington, DC, Fire Department had already been sent to the sidelines, despite having perhaps the best expertise in determining the cause and agents used in the fire. Similar juvenile arguments were taking place at the smoldering remains of the FERC and FCC headquarters. Those squabbles were similar to the one at the IRS Headquarters in that the FERC and FCC criminal investigators made the same claim of jurisdiction that their IRS counterparts had made. The Attorney General, The Secretary of the Treasury, and the Secretary of Homeland Security were all engaged in heated discussions about jurisdiction. Finally, the President ended the bickering by ordering Homeland Security to act as the lead agency. That ended the immediate problem of jurisdictional dispute but it did not undo the publicity damage caused as the news media observed and recorded the onsite squabbling amongst the agencies. The jurisdictional disputes became a news story in themselves as the media produced their own so-called law enforcement experts with their opinions of who should be in charge of the investigations. The most troubling news item to the Federal agencies was the witnesses who reported seeing rockets launched just prior to the attack. There were so many people who reported seeing the launches that the Feds were unable silence all of them before they talked to the media.
April 5, 2015
7:00am
Bel Air suburb of Los Angeles
Unlike Washington, where the damage had been confined to property, the disaster officials of Los Angeles had a real tragedy on their hands. The best estimate of the deaths involved stood at over seventy-five people. This included the fifty guests and at least twenty-five house staff and caterers. The mansion had been blown to smithereens and burned to ashes. Only a burned out crater remained in the place of the sixty million dollar property. The Los Angeles Fire Department had arrived quickly but there was little that they could do other than make sure neighboring properties did not get caught up in the conflagration that raged out of control. Identifying the charred remains would test the limits of forensic science because there was literally nothing left of the bodies except ashes that had been mingled with each other and the contents and building materials of the residence. One cynical observer noted that the casualty list wouldn’t be complete until it was discovered who didn’t show up for work on Monday. The Los Angeles Fire and Police Departments had been working all through the night and those assigned to the grisly task before them were totally exhausted as morning arrived.
Then the Feds showed up and all hell broke loose.
First on the scene was the National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, because they had been notified by the FAA air traffic controllers at Santa Monica Municipal Airport, Bob Hope Airport, and Los Angeles International Airport of the conversation they had recorded with an aircraft that apparently had crashed into the residence in Bel Air. The NTSB was the agency that investigated airplane crashes and other accidents involving transportation modes. No other agency, Federal or State, had their expertise. Then the ATF showed up and claimed jurisdiction due to the fact that explosive devices had likely been employed. The third Federal agency to appear at the scene of the disaster was Homeland Security on the basis that this was likely a terrorist event. The fourth group of G-Men arriving was the FBI, claiming that based upon the recordings they had received from NSA the event was a hate crime and serial murders that crossed state lines.
As this alphabet soup of Federal agencies maneuvered for jurisdiction, the Los Angeles Police Department reminded them all that murder was a state crime and that they, as the local police authority, were in charge of homicide investigations. Much of these disputed claims of jurisdiction were recorded by the local news media and played for both the local and national news audiences throughout the day and evening. Adding to the hard feelings were calls made by the Governor of California and the two US Senators from California to their favorite law enforcement agencies because some key members of their personal staffs had perished in the explosion and fire.
As they watched the news reports of the jurisdictional circus performing in Los Angeles, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security came to a sensible agreement: NTSB would complete their investigation first and then Homeland Security would become the lead agency with the FBI conducting a parallel investigation as to the origin of the attack. Given that so many important and public figures had died, the Government needed to demonstrate that a coordinated effort was being made by all the appropriate agencies in pursuit of the perpetrators. The President would address the nation that evening. The ATF was the odd man out and would be consulted only if the other agencies needed extra manpower.
April 5, 2015
8:30pm
The Mountain and Meadow Ranch, Wyoming
Peter Wallis watched the President, flanked by the Attorney General, Secretaries of Homeland Security and Treasury, and the FBI Director, address the American people about the events of April 4. He pledged that no stone would go unturned in the hunt for the perpetrators of such a vicious and unprovoked attack. He listed the many Federal agencies that would take part in the effort and asked that everyone show compassion and understanding for the families and loved ones of those who had perished. Since the address came from the Oval Office, there was no question and answer session.
Sipping his fourth Macallan of the evening, Pete thought about the ATF and mused to himself, “Only in Washington would they form a huge bureau for the regulation of alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives … here in Wyoming we’d just call it a convenience store.
Pete headed off to bed with the three amigos and wondered how things were going with the St. Louis miscreant.
April 6, 2015
11:30am
US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
Lawrence Carson’s administrative assistant, Gina Alverez, was beginning to get worried. Her boss was scheduled for an important staff meeting at 1:30 pm that included a conference call from Washington. It was unlike him not to call if he was running late or had changed plans. Several minutes later she received a phone call that added to her concern. A man
who identified himself as Game Warden Earl Hardy of the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife asked to speak to Mr. Carson. The conversation revealed that Carson’s boat had been found and identified. Deputies from the Marshall County, Kentucky, Sheriff’s Department had visited Carson’s cabin and found that no one was at home. Since Carson’s vehicle was found at his fishing cabin the local authorities were concerned as to her boss’s whereabouts. Gina asked the game warden to hold and she buzzed Carson’s chief deputy and related the story. After a minute, she transferred Warden Hardy’s call to Assistant US Attorney Maxine Hoffacker. Hardy was advised to secure the boat and the cabin and that he would shortly receive a call from Special Agent in Charge Frank Newton of the FBI. Ten minutes after speaking to Ms. Hoffacker, Hardy was called by Frank Newton and informed that the FBI would begin an investigation and arrive within three hours.
April 6, 2015
2:51pm
Kentucky Department of Fish and Game office
Hardin, Kentucky
The FBI rolled up in two sedans and a SUV. A man who identified himself as Special Agent in Charge Frank Newton asked to speak to Warden Hardy. The FBI man didn’t offer the normal courteous greeting or a handshake. “Where is the boat,’ he asked abruptly. Hardy responded, “It is tied up at our dock about three minutes away from here.” The game warden led the FBI unit to the dock and offered his assistance. “I’ll let you know if we need anything, we’ll take it from here,” responded Newton in a dismissive tone. A similar scene was replayed at Carson’s cabin between the FBI and the deputy sheriff. The FBI team went to work immediately on a forensic examination of the boat and cabin. They did not notice what would have been blatantly obvious to the game warden: Carson’s well-worn combination fishing and flotation vest and his fishing hat were hanging in the bedroom closet of the cabin. Even a rookie game warden would know that no experienced fisherman would leave these items behind, but the FBI agents were the experts and solicited no opinions from mere local law enforcement officers. After three hours of investigation, Newton asked the four agents and two technical specialists, “Where was the boat found?” there was no answer because nobody had bothered to ask Warden Hardy. He could have taken them to the exact spot and informed them as to who found the boat and when it was found. “Get his ass back here,” screamed Newton. Unfortunately, Hardy had ended his shift and wasn’t due to return to work until Thursday since he worked the Thursday through Monday schedule. Hardy was now on his way to Louisville to visit his sister and her family on what sufficed as his weekend. Newton’s team had collected fingerprints from the boat and cabin and the wastepaper basket yielded sales slips that offered clues as to where and when Carson had purchased groceries. The most ominous evidence collected was the blood samples from the boat. It would later be verified that the blood indeed came from Lawrence Carson. The disappearance of a sitting US Attorney would normally have caused a great deal of publicity and worry.
Patriots Versus Bureaucrats Page 15
