Sunshine or Lead

by Adam Van Susteren

  Too nervous to respond, she nodded yes and squeaked, “Uh huh.”

  The President said, “We need to come up with a policy that will suit your situation and the thousands of other Chinese Americans that are situated like you.”

  Xiaowan was more anxious for information than she was nervous. “How do you do that?”

  The President responded, “Mrs. Lerma, if what I understand about your situation is true, my administration has no desire to prosecute you. You came here as a child, worked hard, succeeded; and when asked to steal corporate secrets, you found a responsible attorney and went to the authorities. Our goal is to get everyone else in your situation to do the same thing.”

  His National Security Advisor added, “We already know that the Chinese government has stolen nuclear secrets from Hughes Electronics, trade secrets from American Superconductor Corp., and proprietary information from Nortel; and we suspect that it doesn’t end there. You are the first person to reveal a formal program and not follow through with their requests.”

  The group spent a lightning fast ten minutes talking before National Security Advisor David Scott said, “Mr. President, I believe we have contingency risks to discuss further with the Joint Chiefs and should consider excusing our guests.”

  The President agreed. “Xiaowan, Mr. Fernandez will take you to the Cabinet Room where other agents will come talk with you and your attorney when he arrives.”

  “I’ll try to stop in to hear some stories firsthand in a few hours. In the meantime, let’s get to work. Dr. J, get the House Chairman of the Intelligence Committee and Secretary of State to the White House. I want to meet with them after the Joint Chiefs.”

  Director Schwartz was on his feet and opened the door to let Aurora and the other two women out of the Oval Office. There were no goodbyes.

  Freddy welcomed them with a smile out in the hall. “He was a good man before. He’s becoming a great man, isn’t he?”

  Tina agreed.

  After a short walk in silence, Freddy walked them inside the Cabinet Room. “I understand that your attorney is en route and that you might be willing to debrief some agents to help us through the crisis. Should we see if we can get him on speakerphone?”

  “Okay.”

  Freddy got Aaron’s number and dialed it on a speakerphone that was set on the impressive table in the Cabinet Room.

  “Aaron Baker,” he announced into his dumb phone when he answered the call from the unrecognized number.

  “Hey babe, it’s me.”

  “Tina! Everything okay?”

  “Yes, I’m at the White House and you are on speakerphone with Xiaowan, Aurora, and Freddy Fernandez. He’s our concierge. We are waiting to be joined by some people from the FBI or something. They will be here to talk with Xiaowan, and Freddy suggested we have her attorney on the phone.”

  “Hello Freddy. Hi Aurora. How are you, Xiaowan?”

  “A bit nervous, but okay.”

  “We’ll be there soon. Here’s the deal with whatever questions they ask. Let them ask, count to five, then answer the question. You need to count to five each time in case they ask a question that I want to tell you not to answer, or if I want them to rephrase it. There may be times when I will want to answer for you, if I can, because then it is not an admission from you. They want information and we want to give it to them, but we don’t want you to admit guilt to any crime.”

  James heard this instruction and interjected, “Aaron, we shouldn’t let her say anything at all. If they want to bring charges of treason, we can’t let them have any sort of admission.”

  “Xiaowan, we may not want you to respond to any questions at all. Let’s see what they ask. If we can help avoid an international crisis by providing information, it’s the right thing to do and our system usually rewards doing the right thing. But like your husband says, we don’t want you to risk saying anything that could hurt you in case there is a political fallout and there is a need to pin blame on someone. So if we lose the connection or if I say so, do not say anything at all.”

  On speakerphone, James then explained everything again to Xiaowan. He was repeating how important it was to stop talking at a moment’s notice, when a parade of people entered the Cabinet Room. A seemingly muscular 6’0” bald man in his thirties, wearing a dark suit and red tie, led the parade and introduced himself. “Scott Stopper, Deputy Solicitor General.”

  Aaron and James understood the Solicitor General’s Office argues cases on behalf of the government in the Supreme Court. If there was policy litigation, this matter could instantly be heard via a writ of certiorari. The Supreme Court has discretion to move any case up its docket and a matter like this could be accepted.

  The next man who walked in was a few inches shorter than the first; he had short dark hair and was dressed in a dark suit and blue tie. “Matthew Kennedy, Deputy Attorney General,” he introduced himself with confidence and a New York accent.

  Following him was a much shorter woman, maybe 5’6” with three inch heels, long blond hair, and wearing a dark pantsuit. She introduced herself. “Amber Quick, FBI.”

  A man several inches taller, dark hair, and wearing a dark suit and tie, entered saying, “Alex Gruft, CIA.”

  A woman in her fifties, blond hair, in a dark pantsuit, followed. “Caryn Glickman, National Security Agency.”

  Next entered a behemoth of a man. He was 6’8”, well over three hundred pounds, and wore a dark suit. His bright yellow tie stood out. He smiled and said, “Jamey Leonard, State Department.”

  Jamey completely eclipsed the final person to come through the door, another woman in a dark pantsuit. “Jackie Mattingly, National Security Advisor staff,” she said as her introduction.

  Aaron lost count of the number of people in the room. The new additions filled nearly half of the seats on one side of the table in the Cabinet Room.

  As could be expected, it was an attorney Matthew Kennedy who spoke up first. “We have a lot of different agencies here. The purpose of these questions is not to bring charges against you, but to gather information to help our investigation. That being said, anything you say may be used against you in criminal proceedings. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  Aaron said, “Xiaowan, please make sure you give me time to understand the question before you answer it.”

  Matthew continued, “I understand that you have counsel on the line. This is not a formal proceeding, but it is being audio taped. Who do we have on the line representing Xiaowan Lerma?”

  “Aaron Baker.”

  “James Lerma.”

  “Manny Gaglione.” He then whispered, “The legal dream team.”

  James mouthed, “Thank you,” to Manny for stepping in to help represent Xiaowan.

  Matthew said, “We are going to skip around on a lot of questions. But right now, let’s start at the beginning. Do you remember how this all started when you were a child?”

  Chapter 30

  Xiaowan did well with the five second pauses. Most of the questions resulted in Aaron or James answering on her behalf so not much actually came from her mouth. About twenty minutes into the interrogation, it became clear that Xiaowan thought she was a small independent pod within the program and imagined others were like her as well. She had no knowledge of the scope of the program; all she knew was that her parents received some financial compensation when she left.

  Aaron made it clear that Xiaowan never actually received any direct compensation for any activity and never actually stole any sensitive information. At the first request for her to steal information, she sought counsel and reported it.

  Aaron wanted to be in the room so that he could read the faces of the people asking the questions. The two attorneys, Matthew Kennedy and Scott Stopper, had taken the lead. As time went on, they became more and more focused. They repeatedly circled back to the program, trying to understand the extent of it.

  Aaron volunteered the name Zhou, Xiaowan’s handler, early on and eve
n let Xiaowan discuss her interactions with him in Barcelona. Scott Stopper from the Solicitor General’s Office let out an audible sigh, showing a grudge against the lack of information. He then asked a very direct and pointed question. “Mrs. Lerma, have you ever met anyone else who was a part of the program?”

  Xiaowan waited five seconds, then said, “Yes. One person, a man called Kimbo.”

  The FBI representative in the room, Amber Quick, said, “Kenji Bo, aka Kimbo? We have him under surveillance right now in the Los Angeles area.”

  Grudge abated, Scott Stopper asked, “How do you know this, uh, Kimbo was part of the program?”

  Immediately, Xiaowan responded, “He told me.”

  Aaron interrupted to remind her, “Xiaowan, please wait for us to hear the question before answering. Wait. We are less than a half hour from landing and an hour or so from getting there. I would like to confer with my client before answering any more questions. I believe you have solid leads and most of the information she has to offer.”

  The dark suits around the room mumbled. They were frustrated; partly because they were unable to get any new information from the interrogation and also because the conversation was ending just when they might have finally been getting somewhere.

  Aaron said, “I understand that time is of the essence. Do you have one or two pressing questions we might be able to answer that would assist you?”

  The attorney from the Attorney General’s Office, Matthew Kennedy, asked, “Not the most urgent, but Xiaowan, would you like to remain a United States citizen or would you like to go back to China?”

  While waiting the five seconds, tears began to form in Xiaowan’s eyes. She heard Aaron say, “You don’t have to answer, or you can answer if you want.”

  “I am an American. This is my home. This is why I am cooperating and why my friends have put themselves in danger to support me.” With that, one tear escaped down her left cheek. A moment later, a matching tear trickled down her other cheek.

  Aaron smiled at the answer. “If something urgent comes up, call me and we can talk to Xiaowan.”

  As the dark suits exited the Cabinet Room, Freddy said, “If you would like a few minutes on the phone by yourselves, I’ll be waiting outside whenever you are ready.”

  When the tears stopped welling up in Xiaowan’s eyes, she looked at Tina and started laughing. “How in the world did we end up here?”

  “Ladies, the phone is most likely bugged, and the room is being recorded. Keep that in mind, whatever you say or do.”

  “Okay,” Tina said, then asked, “Did the questioning go well?”

  “I think so. I think they are interested in uncovering the scope of the program. They want to know what sensitive information is at stake. And from that last question, I think they haven’t yet decided what to do with Xiaowan, or others like her that call the United States home.”

  Manny said, “I agree with Aaron. We’ve spent the past few hours brainstorming policy considerations. If we have a meeting with the President and his staff, we can hopefully give some input.”

  James said, “Shy, you did great baby. Whatever happens, I’m proud of you.”

  “Thank you, husband.”

  “Can’t wait to see you guys,” Aaron said. “And remember that you may be in the home of the leader of the free world, but you have to assume that at every moment you are being watched and recorded.”

  Xiaowan joked, “And we were so relaxed already.”

  “Glad your spirits are up. When this is all over, let’s go to Alaska like we’ve always wanted. Just get away on a cruise and see some of those sights. How does that sound, Xiaowan?”

  “Sounds great,” she replied, thinking, ‘I probably won’t have a job to go back to after all this is done, if I somehow avoid jail.’ She kept that thought to herself as she did not want to sour the mood any further.

  Manny walked to the back of the airplane, sat down in one of the recliners, and dialed a number on his phone. Aaron overheard a few of the words. “Surveillance… plane… now.”

  Aaron, Tina, Xiaowan, James, and Aurora all said goodbye for now. It was nearly five in the afternoon and Aaron needed a shower. His shirt smelled like a combination of last night’s sweat and alcohol. When he’d catch a whiff, he would start feeling queasy.

  He called to the back of the plane, “Manny, who were you talking to?”

  “Just a client.”

  Aaron turned his attention to Nat. “What do we do now?”

  “My work ends after a debrief so policy wonks with less risk and higher pay can figure out what to do next.”

  “And your debrief?”

  “That we went to bring back assets who would have firsthand knowledge of the recruitment process for this Chinese spy ring and we came back empty-handed.”

  James said, “Aaron, unless you were exaggerating, you said that you talked about monetary policy with the President and that he asked you to be an advisor. Time to hone in on the exact language for the President and to be one of his,” he looked at Nat, “wonks. A wonk that can figure out how to expose the program, save world-wide companies from Chinese espionage, prevent a massive and unnecessary backlash against all Asian people, and keep Xiaowan in the country.”

  Aaron leaned back and joked, “When put like that, it sounds so simple.”

  Manny sat back down in the front of the plane and handed each of the three a bottle of water. “Our good friend Mr. Lerma is right, but I think we have to look at the bigger picture, which involves more than just this incident.”

  “Bigger than a potential war between China and the United States due to dozens of years of espionage?”

  Manny conceded, “Not bigger, bigger picture. The three of us are all members of the Adam Smith Society because we believe that free markets will always find a way, that selfishness can be a virtue. A business, like Ameriprobe, will act in its best interests. It has conflicting interests with Xiaowan and Chinese scientists. Even if there is a risk of employing a Chinese spy, is it greater than the risk of losing a top scientist to a competitor? And even if it is, is it better to take that risk and have access to that employee’s talents for a period of time?

  “Okay, so they weigh the costs and benefits and decide to keep her or not based upon the risks.”

  “That’s right. And stealing corporate secrets is not only a Chinese thing, big corporations hire people from competitors all the time. There are often ‘do not disclose’ agreements and harsh penalties for disclosing proprietary information, but this really isn’t a risk unique to Chinese espionage. It’s more of a daily issue for all businesses.

  Aaron said, “Good point,” and jotted a note on a legal pad. He set the pen down and said, “Come to think of it, I remember hearing about NFL teams poaching players from a bitter rival’s practice squad and signing them to a contract just so they can learn plays from the other team.”

  Nat asked, “What?”

  Aaron explained, “In the NFL, you are only allowed so many players on your active roster, like fifty or so. Then you can have another five or ten on what they call a practice squad where the players practice with the team and can be called up in case of injury. They make half, or less, of what those on the active roster make. But here’s what is interesting. Any other team can sign one of these players on the practice squad. So sometimes the strategy of stealing away a player has nothing to do with his ability on the field, it’s to obtain the other team’s playbook information.”

  “That’s right. I think that one big point to stress is that stealing proprietary information is not new and it does not deserve a knee-jerk reaction. Each NFL team can deal with it by disclosing less playbook information to the players on their practice squad, or paying these players more so that they can require a ‘do not disclose’ agreement. The point is, it’s up to the business to decide the policies that will best protect them.”

  “You’re right. Most high-tech manufacturing is done in Asia. I think Apple has some manufact
uring plants in China. I have to imagine they did their due diligence and understand that China’s court system is not as advanced as ours and that their rights may not be fully protected there. But they still made the choice to do business there.”

  Nat asked, “Could they close down and move back to the United States?”

  “Sure they could,” Aaron replied. “They have like a hundred billion dollars in cash and could do almost anything. Businesses could also try to engage in discrimination and start firing and refusing to hire people of Chinese ancestry. That discrimination is not allowed under the Fourteenth Amendment, and I can’t imagine that businesses would cut employees they already trust unless they suspected they were actively stealing.”

  “That’s the key starting point. Disclosure will not lead to the end of the world once people who make decisions give their safety protocols additional thought. But I want to go bigger picture,” Manny prodded

  Aaron urged, “Just spit it out, Manny. We’re too tired, stressed, and hung-over to figure it out.”

  “Immigration policy.”

  James asked, “Immigration reform?”

  “We don’t need reform, we need a comprehensive policy that makes sense.”

  Aaron asked, “And a crisis is the time to push for this?”

  “Absolutely,” Manny replied. “This is essentially an immigration issue. What we know about the members of the Chinese program is that they are of Chinese descent and are either American citizens or here on work visas.”

  “Xiaowan came here the conventional way. First, she was here on a student visa, then a work visa, then we got married and she got a Green Card, then she became a citizen.”

  “Did any of her family come?”

  “No. Why do you ask?”

  “Because that’s our immigration trend these days. Someone gets a Green Card or becomes a citizen and their family can skip the lines under the priority of keeping families together.”

  Aaron said, “That’s my understanding as well. People on a work visa can spend three years here, then get the visa renewed for another three if they are deemed to be in a special-needs occupation, which can be almost anything when the employer pays the fee. So that person has six years to get married, win the Green Card lottery, or leave the country.”