Act of War - Brad Thor Page 0,45
After entering the country last May, they stayed for the duration of the internship and then departed.”
“Departed for where?” the President asked.
“No one knows. Our Houston field office already has a team at the Johnson Space Center conducting interviews with anyone and everyone who might have had contact with the Al Ain Six.”
“Al Ain Six?”
“All six of the engineering students came from Emirati universities in the city of Al Ain. It’s just a shorthand we’ve developed.”
“Let’s make sure the press doesn’t get hold of that. It sounds way too catchy.”
“That wasn’t the intent, but I understand, sir,” the FBI Director replied. “I’ll make sure it stops being used.”
The President processed everything he had been told. “So, the program ends and everyone goes home, except for our six students from UAE. Is that correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And we have no idea where they are now.”
“Correct.”
“Do we have photographs? That’s part of the visa process, right? We fingerprint and retina-scan them upon entry into the United States, don’t we?”
“Yes, sir, we do,” the FBI Director answered. “And we have all of that.” He nodded to the Situation Room tech, who put the photos up on the monitors. Under each man’s picture was his name.
“Are we putting these pictures out to state and local law enforcement?”
“Not yet.”
“Why not?” the President asked.
“Because when those pictures go to the state and local level, we have to assume they’ll get leaked to the press. That could push them to launch the attack.”
“Do we have any other leads?”
“Having their names and faces is a big leap forward from where we were twenty-four hours ago,” said Director Erickson. “In addition to the interviews the Houston field office is conducting, we’re trying to decide what to do about the man who ran the NASA Islamic internship program.”
“Is he a suspect?”
“We haven’t made the determination yet. When NASA recruited him, he was working for an organization that has had a very checkered past. Several of its board of directors have been indicted for terrorism-related funding.”
“Why was NASA even talking to them?”
“They are the best-known Muslim advocacy group in the U.S., but they’re not the cleanest, that’s for sure. NASA’s director told me that the wife of someone in the last White House knew somebody at the organization and it just sort of happened.”
The President shook his head. You couldn’t make this stuff up.
Before the FBI Director could continue, the Attorney General spoke up. “My office and the FBI have been discussing whether to interview the internship director or go to the FISA court, get a warrant, and dig around first.”
“Your grounds for a warrant being?” the Secretary of State asked.
“That the internship director had to personally approve the candidates for the internship, that he communicated internationally in the process, and that six of the interns—who have been conditionally identified as being part of a terrorist plot—have overstayed their J-1 visas and cannot be located.”
“Go for both,” the President ordered. “Don’t waste any more time. Get the warrant, gather as much intel as you can, and then bring him in for questioning. If you get any pushback from the FISA court, I want to know immediately. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” the Attorney General replied.
When the man remained seated as if he intended to stay for the rest of the meeting, the President pointed toward the door and said, “Go. Now.”
The President had a brusque style when he felt things weren’t moving fast enough. He hated inertia and believed in kicking people’s rear ends often and hard in order to get things moving.
The Attorney General gathered up his documents and exited the Situation Room.
Looking at the remaining faces gathered around the table, the President said, “What else do we have?”
The CIA Director spoke up and all eyes turned back to him. “Before leaving the UAE, each of the engineering students was given a phone, told to keep it charged and to turn them on when they arrived in the U.S.”
“Have we been able to track those?”
“We know when the men cleared customs and immigration control, so that gives us an arrival window and narrows the search. The NSA is compiling a list of every phone in and around the airport that was turned on during that time.”
“Good,” replied the President. “What else? Any problem with the Pakistanis?”
The Secretary of State shook his head. “Fortunately, no,” he said. “It’s like a hornet’s nest over there, but nobody is pointing a stinger at us. Yet.”
“Until they do, we’re not going to worry about it. And if they do,