reach out to the Muslim world to help them feel better about their historic contributions to science, math, and engineering.”
“What the—?” Harvath began, his voice trailing off. “Are you kidding me?”
Levy shook her head.
“No wonder NASA was forced to scrap the space shuttle program. Raising Islamic self-esteem must be an around-the-clock operation.”
Harvath shook his head in disgust. Political correctness was the biggest weakness in America’s national security. The TSA was a joke, America refused to learn from the Israelis, and now NASA had gone from exploring the reaches of outer space to soothing the innermost reaches of the Muslim world’s feelings. The weakness that had been projected by the United States was astounding. It was a wonder that it hadn’t been invaded yet. It would take years to repair the damage.
At least for now, Harvath had helped the country take another step in the right direction. “We need to get on the phone to the FBI,” he said. “Have them swoop in on NASA and round these guys up.”
“You won’t find them,” Hanjour replied.
Harvath looked at him. “Why not?”
“Because it was a summer internship. They’re gone now.”
“Gone where? Back to Al Ain?”
“Wherever their handler needed them. The internship program was just the means to get them their visas, get them into the country, and get them acclimated. Once the internship was over, NASA assumed they would return home.”
“Which they didn’t,” Harvath stated.
Hanjour nodded.
FedEx and UPS could track millions of packages a day, but the U.S. government couldn’t track down foreigners who overstayed their visas. It was a disgrace. Coupled with the directive for NASA to help enhance Islamic self-esteem, Harvath couldn’t help but wonder if there were politicians and bureaucrats intent upon hastening the country’s collapse, which brought him back to China.
No matter what America’s problems were, none of them would matter if America ceased to exist. Whatever the Snow Dragon attack was, it had to be stopped—by any means necessary.
He and Levy spent another forty-five minutes poring over all the materials, asking Hanjour repeatedly for clarification on his notes. Harvath asked for pictures of the six men he had sent to the U.S. Hanjour stated that they were on one of the laptops. When Harvath asked him for the “control files”—the dossiers he had built on each man—Hanjour also claimed those were on the computers. Until the NSA could go to work on them, those would have to remain beyond Harvath’s reach.
Harvath pressed him on Ahmad Yaqub and the students. Hanjour asserted that he had communicated solely with Ahmad Yaqub. Once he had found and recruited the engineering students, he had guided their applications to the NASA program. Once they had been accepted, NASA had handled the visas.
Harvath learned that Hanjour had received six cell phones via messenger, which he assumed had been from Yaqub and which he had distributed to the students. They were to turn the phones on once they arrived in the United States, keep them charged, and await further instruction.
Hanjour claimed to have no idea what the telephone numbers were, what carrier the phones used, or if any pictures or instructions might have already been loaded on the phones. According to him, that wasn’t his job and he hadn’t wanted to know.
Once the phones had been handed out and the men had left for the U.S., Hanjour’s only responsibility was disbursing the agreed-to sums to the men’s families. The students had been made aware that if they screwed up, not only would the money stop, but their loved ones would be targeted. Whoever was behind the plot had been serious about a carrot-and-stick approach.
After wringing what they could from Hanjour, Harvath had a decision to make. He had no intention of letting the recruiter go. Maybe, at some point way in the future, he could be used as an asset, but right now—just like Ahmad Yaqub—he was headed for a dark cell and a hell of a lot more questions.
In the meantime, Harvath had to get everything from Hanjour’s safe back to the United States. He wanted to be on a plane with it and on his way out of the United Arab Emirates ASAP. That would require a little bit of tap-dancing with the authorities, some diplomatic immunity, and a VIP big enough to take any attention off him and his less-than-fully-backstopped black passport.
He asked Cowles to remove Hanjour from the room for a moment. Once they were gone, Harvath turned to Levy and asked, “Does anyone owe you any favors at the embassy