Face of the Earth

by Doug Raber

  Of course there’s a quarantine. “Large-Scale Quarantine Following Biological Terrorism in the United States,” J. Barbera, A. Macintyre, L. Gostin, T. Inglesby, T. O’Toole, C. DeAtley, K. Tonat, and M. Layton, Journal of the American Medical Association, Dec. 5, 2001, Vol. 286, No. 21, p. 2711 http://jama.ama-assn.org/content/286/21/2711.full.

  ViroChip: “A Conversation with Joseph DeRisi,” Claudia Dreifus, New York Times, Oct. 7, 2008, p. D2; http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/health/research/07conv.html?scp=2&sq=claudie%20dreifus%20derisi&st=cse.

  anthrax attacks in 2001: “Tracing killer spores: The science behind the anthrax investigation,” Christine Piggee, Analytical Chemistry, Online News, Sept. 18, 2008; http://pubs.acs.org/action/showStoryContent?doi=10.1021%2Fon.2008.010.10.108576.

  Chapter 19: “Israel and Netanyahu, Pipe Down the Threats of War on Iran,” Leslie H. Gelb (president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations), The Daily Beast, Feb. 6, 2012, http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/02/06/leslie-h-gelb-israel-and-netanyahu-pipe-down-the-threats-of-war-on-iran.html.

  gave them a sample of the smallpox virus: “Threats and Responses: Germ Weapons; C.I.A. Hunts Iraq Tie to Soviet Smallpox,” Judith Miller, New York Times, Dec. 3, 2002; http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/03/world/threats-and-responses-germ-weapons-cia-hunts-iraq-tie-to-soviet-smallpox.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm.

  first told us Iran was working with smallpox: “Iran Said to Be Producing Bioweapons: Opposition Group Names Anthrax as First of Six Pathogens in Intensive Effort,” Joby Warrick, Washington Post, May 15, 2003, p. A22; http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/336655351.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=May+15%2C+2003&author=Joby+Warrick&desc=Iran+Said+to+Be+Producing+Bioweapons%3B+Opposition+Group+Names+Anthrax+as+First+of+Six+Pathogens+in+Intensive+Effort.

  Chapter 20: National Emergency Communications Plan, July 2008, Department of Homeland Security; http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/national_emergency_communications_plan.pdf.

  transmission doesn’t take place until the infected person shows the skin lesions: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Smallpox Fact Sheet, Smallpox Disease Overview, http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/smallpox/overview/disease-facts.asp.

  comparing the genetic sequences: See Tables 1 and 4 in “GeneChip Resequencing of the Smallpox Virus Genome Can Identify Novel Strains: a Biodefense Application,” I.M. Sulaiman, K. Tang, J. Osborne, S. Sammons, and R.M. Wohlhueter, Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Feb. 2007, Vol. 45, No. 2, p. 358; http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1829075&blobtype=pdf.

  GeneChip: “Meeting of Computers and Biology: The DNA Chip,” Nicholas Wade, New York Times, April 8, 1997; http://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/08/science/meeting-of-computers-and-biology-the-dna-chip.html?scp=1&sq=affymax+gene+chip&st=nyt.

  even a hundred years: “Smallpox and its Eradication,” F. Fenner, D.A. Henderson, I. Arita, Z Ježek, I.D. Ladnyi, History of Public Health, No. 6, World Health Organization, 1988, Chapter 2. Variola Virus and other Orthopoxviruses; see discussion pp. 115-116, ISBN 9241561106, http://whqlibdoc.who.int/smallpox/9241561106_chp2.pdf;

  “Century-old smallpox scabs in N.M. envelope,” USA Today, Dec. 26, 2003, http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-12-26-smallpox-in-envelope_x.htm.

  State Sponsors of Terrorism: “Country Reports on Terrorism 2010, Chapter 3—State Sponsors of Terrorism,” U.S. Department of State, http://www.state.gov/g/ct/rls/crt/2010/170260.htm.

  Chapter 21: Senate Report on Intelligence Activities Relating to Iraq Conducted by the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group and the Office of Special Plans within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, June 2008; http://intelligence.senate.gov/080605/phase2b.pdf.

  Nuclear Posture Review: “Nuclear Posture Review Report,” Department of Defense, April 2010, http://www.defense.gov/npr/docs/2010%20Nuclear%20Posture%20Review%20Report.pdf.

  caused a bit of a flap: Senate Report on Intelligence Activities Relating to Iraq Conducted by the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group and the Office of Special Plans within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, June 2008, p. 34; http://intelligence.senate.gov/080605/phase2b.pdf.

  his information should not be trusted: James Risen, “How a Shady Iranian Deal Maker Kept the Pentagon’s Ear,” New York Times, Dec. 7, 2003; http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E0DA133DF934A35751C1A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print.

  coordinated propaganda program: “Exiles: How Iran’s Expatriates are Gaming the Nuclear Threat,” Connie Bruck, The New Yorker, March 6, 2006, p. 48; http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/03/06/060306fa_fact_bruck.

  Chapter 22: “Not Safe Enough,” Editorial, New York Times, Sept. 14, 2008, p. WK9; http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/opinion/14sun2.html.

  almost 70 years old: “Smallpox Danger Over; Free Vaccinations End,” New York Times, May 3, 1947; http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F20713FA3F58147B93C1A9178ED85F438485F9.

  Chapter 23: “Report to the President of the United States,” The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, March 31, 2005, unclassified version, p. 87; http://www.gpoaccess.gov/wmd/pdf/full_wmd_report.pdf.

  trying to get nuclear weapons: “2005 Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments,” U.S. Department of State, http://www.state.gov/t/avc/rls/rpt/51977.htm.

  wipe Israel off the map: “Wipe Israel ‘off the map’ Iranian says,” Nazila Fathi, New York Times, Oct. 27, 2005; http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/26/world/africa/26iht-iran.html.

  Chapter 24: “Embedded: The Media at War in Iraq,” Bill Katovsky and Timothy Carlson, Globe Pequot, 2004, p. 213, ISBN 159228549X, 9781592285495.

  Chapter 25: “Plan of Attack,” Bob Woodward, Simon and Schuster, 2004, p. 249, ISBN 0743262875, 9780743262873.

  axis of evil: The President’s State of the Union Address, George W. Bush, Jan. 29, 2002,

  States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of indifference would be catastrophic.

  http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2002/01/print/20020129-11.html; http://archives.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/01/29/bush.speech.txt/.

  microbial forensics: “Microbial Forensics: DNA Fingerprinting of Bacillus anthracis (Anthrax),” Paul Keim, Talima Pearson, and Richard Okinaka, Analytical Chemistry, 2008, Vol. 80, No. 13, p. 4791.

  genetically modified smallpox virus: “Iran’s Accelerating Military Competition with the U.S. and Arab States: Chemical, Biological, and Nuclear Capabilities,” Anthony H. Cordesman, Center for Strategic & International Studies, Oct. 17, 2011, http://csis.org/publication/irans-accelerating-military-competition-us-and-arab-states-chemical-biological-and-nucle.

  state sponsor of terrorism: U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Terrorism 2010:

  Chapter 3—State Sponsors of Terrorism,” U.S. Department of State:

  Designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1984, Iran remained the most active state sponsor of terrorism in 2010. Iran’s financial, material, and logistic support for terrorist and militant groups throughout the Middle East and Central Asia had a direct impact on international efforts to promote peace, threatened economic stability in the Gulf, and undermined the growth of democracy.

  http://www.state.gov/g/ct/rls/crt/2010/170260.htm.

  Chapter 26: U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 42: Public Health, Part 70.3: All Communicable Diseases (42 C.F.R. § 70.3); http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr&tpl=%2Findex.tpl.

  Chapter 27: Defense Intelligence Agency, comment by Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Toby Sullivan, “Transcript: Media Ro
undtable about the Establishment of the Defense Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center,” August 5, 2008, Transcript by Federal News Service, Washington, D.C.; http://www.dia.mil/public-affairs/releases/2008-08-05.html.

  Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act: Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 Amendments Act of 2008, Public Law 110–261, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-110publ261/pdf/PLAW-110publ261.pdf; http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-110publ261/html/PLAW-110publ261.htm

  Chapter 28: “When Smallpox Failed,” Leonard A. Cole, New York Times, Dec. 2, 2001.

  Chapter 29: “Extend the Patriot Act,” editorial, Tampa Tribune, Feb. 28, 2011; http://www2.tbo.com/news/opinion/2011/feb/28/MEOPINO1-extend-the-patriot-act-ar-6412/.

  Chapter 30: “Every Click You Make: Internet Providers Quietly Test Expanded Tracking of Web Use to Target Advertising,” Peter Whoriskey, Washington Post, April 4, 2008, p. D1; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/03/AR2008040304052.html.

  Chapter 31: “U.S. Cell-Phone Tracking Clipped,” Ryan Singel, Wired, Oct. 27, 2005; http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/10/69390.

  Posse Comitatus Act: Posse Comitatus Act of U.S. Code, Title 18, § 1385:

  Whoever, except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress, willfully uses any part of the Army or the Air Force as a posse comitatus or otherwise to execute the laws shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

  http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/USCODE-2010-title18/pdf/USCODE-2010-title18-partI-chap67-sec1385.pdf.

  Chapter 32: “Army MP’s ‘Just Showed Up’ and ‘Didn’t Cross the Line,’ Alabama Law Enforcement Official Says,” Pete Winn, CNSNews.com, March 18, 2009; http://cnsnews.com/news/article/army-mp-s-just-showed-and-didn-t-cross-line-alabama-law-enforcement-official-says.

  Chapter 33: “Agency Seeks Freer Hand to Recruit Spies in U.S.,” Douglas Jehl, New York Times, Oct. 8, 2005; http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/08/politics/08intel.html.

  warrantless wiretaps: “Gonzales Hospital Episode Detailed. Ailing Ashcroft Pressured on Spy Program, Former Deputy Says,” Dan Eggen and Paul Kane, Washington Post, May 16, 2007; p. A01, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/15/AR2007051500864.html.

  Chapter 34: United States of America v. Geneva Red Feather et al., No. CR73-5176, United States District Court, D. South Dakota, April 7, 1975: United States v. Red Feather, 392 F.Supp. 916, 921-923 (D.S.D.1975); see Leagle.com: http://174.123.24.242/leagle/xmlResult.aspx?xmldoc=19751308392FSupp916_11142.xml&docbase=CSLWAR1-1950-1985.

  Chapter 35: “Agency Seeks Freer Hand to Recruit Spies in U.S.,” Douglas Jehl, New York Times, Oct. 8, 2005; http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/08/politics/08intel.html.

  uniformed troops stationed inside the United States: “Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security,” Spencer S. Hsu and Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post, Dec. 1, 2008, p. A1; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/30/AR2008113002217_pf.html.

  same protocol that we’ve used at CDC: “GeneChip Resequencing of the Smallpox Virus Genome Can Identify Novel Strains: a Biodefense Application,” I.M. Sulaiman, K. Tang, J. Osborne, S. Sammons, and R.M. Wohlhueter, Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Feb. 2007, Vol. 45, No. 2, p. 358; http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=1829075&blobtype=pdf.

  Chapter 36: “The Speckled Monster: Canada, Smallpox and its Eradication,” Luis Barreto and Christopher J. Rutty, Canadian Journal of Public Health, Vol. 93, July/August 2002, No. 4, p. I-1; http://www.healthheritageresearch.com/SpeckledMonster.pdf.

  phylogenetic relationships: “Genome Sequence Diversity and Clues to the Evolution of Variola (Smallpox) Virus,” Sammons, A.M. Frace, J.D. Osborne, M. Olsen-Rasmussen, M. Zhang, D. Govil, I.K. Damon, R. Kline, M. Laker, Y. Li, G.L. Smith, H. Meyer, J.W. LeDuc, R.M. Wohlhueter, Science, Vol. 313, Aug. 11, 2006, p. 807; http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/reprint/313/5788/807.pdf.

  Chapter 37: “Simply the Worst,” Maureen Dowd, Op-Ed, New York Times, Feb. 12, 2011; http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/opinion/13dowd.html.

  Consequence Management Response Forces: “Statement before the 110th Congress, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, United States Senate,” The Honorable Paul McHale, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and America’s Security Affairs, June 26, 2008, p. 5; http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/062608McHale.pdf.

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  About the Authors

  Doug and Linda Raber are scientists who have spent their careers investigating the interplay of cutting-edge science and U.S. foreign and domestic policy.

  After graduating with bachelor’s and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Dartmouth and the University of Michigan, Doug spent 20 years on the chemistry faculty at the University of South Florida. In 1990, he moved to Washington, D.C., as Director of the Board on Chemical Sciences & Technology at the National Academy of Sciences, where he directed studies on topics ranging from chemistry research and development to forensic analysis of bombings to combatting terrorism. He is a sought-after consultant in science policy arenas.

  Linda graduated in chemistry and history at the College of William & Mary and began her career as a legislative aide in the Senate before moving to a chemistry research position at the National Institutes of Health. She worked as a reporter at Chemical & Engineering News for more than 20 years before going solo in 2010.

  The Rabers have homes in the Nation’s capital and in West Virginia, near the two ends of the C&O Canal that runs alongside the Potomac River. Both locations serve as backdrops for FACE OF THE EARTH, their first novel.

  About FACE OF THE EARTH

  Smallpox was wiped off the face of the Earth more than 30 years ago, but an outbreak on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico has claimed one life, and the disease is spreading. The conclusion that the outbreak is the result of a terrorist attack is official U.S. policy, but the facts don’t add up to terrorism.

  Tipped off by a former classmate teaching in Farmington, Sarah Lockford, a young Washington Post reporter, teams up with Jake Overman, a medical researcher from the Centers for Disease Control, to investigate the outbreak.

  As the National Security Council debates, the White House readies plans for a retaliatory attack against Iran. A cabinet member with a grudge deploys military personnel to New Mexico to make sure no one stands in the way of a military response. The Navajo community is secretly shut off from the rest of the world. Roads are guarded, and all incoming and outgoing communications are blocked.

  The only leak was a phone call to Sarah, and Sarah can’t be found. She evades surveillance and travels through the wilderness to the outbreak site, where she and Jake discover its surprising origin. Forced into a cross-country game of cat and mouse, they must get their scientific evidence to the President in time. If they fail, the U.S. may launch a nuclear attack.

  FACE OF THE EARTH is fiction, but all of the scientific and U.S. policy information in the novel have been scrupulously fact-checked. The story is frightening because everything in it could happen.

  Forthcoming

  ROOF OF THE WORLD

  A family of immigrants from Tajikistan find themselves caught up in an international web of espionage and terrorism. The Central Intelligence Agency learns of a credible plot to launch a nuclear attack against the United States, but nobody knows the identity of the target or when the attack is scheduled. Will careful investigations be enough? Even with the discovery that the planned attack is aimed at Washington, D.C., will a government team be able to locate the plotters? And even if the conspirators can be found, can they be stopped before the nuclear device is detonated?

  EASTERN COLONIES

  A team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention detects a slight but significant increase in food-borne illness across the United States. All the experts have to go on is a mathematical algorithm developed by a computer expert. The individual cases are so sporadi
c that nobody can determine the specific origin of the illness. Is it only a random set of infections, or is it something more?

  Jake Overman returns to work with a team at CDC, and they make the frightening discovery that the illnesses are not accidental. Someone has found a way to infect the food supply. The trail leads across the ocean, first to Germany, and then further east to Russia and finally to Kazakhstan. A genetically engineered strain of deadly e. Coli bacteria is about to enter the American food supply.

  HUNT FOR THE GRAY GHOST

  A mysterious Kazakh warlord is the mastermind behind multiple terrorist attacks against the United States. American officials learn he was responsible for earlier operations, but he is an elusive target. U.S. intelligence agents don’t know where he is, and they don’t know what he looks like. They don’t even know his name. But they must find him before he strikes again.