The Bin Laden Plot

The SEAL piloting the RHIB eased up on the motor, matching Jimmy Carter’s speed as the boat pulled alongside. A rope ladder had been draped down the rounded hull, which Wilson climbed as the RHIB loitered alongside. He descended through the nearest topside hatch, where Commander Gallagher was waiting at the bottom of the ladder. After Gallagher welcomed him aboard, they proceeded to Gallagher’s stateroom, where they sat at a small fold-down table.

“This entire situation is incredibly screwed up, sir,” Gallagher said. “You’re going to have to take me back to the beginning.”

Wilson couldn’t agree more.

He began with Michigan’s surprise port call in Bahrain, when the secretary of the Navy and her senior military aide had briefed him on his mission: track down and sink a rogue UUV that had sunk USS Stethem. Gallagher listened intently, confusion gathering on his face as Wilson recounted that he had detected the UUV being retrieved by a mother ship, which Brenda Verbeck subsequently explained was an artificially intelligent mother submarine built from spare Seawolf parts.

“Wow,” Gallagher said when Wilson finished. “That’s some story, and wrong on both parts. First, there’s no automated mother ship out here. Just Jimmy Carter. We pick up our UUVs on occasion for recharging and maintenance, plus we download whatever information the UUVs have intercepted in case their transmissions were corrupted or incomplete. Second, our UUVs couldn’t have sunk Stethem. They can’t launch their torpedoes.”

Gallagher explained that Jimmy Carter’s fleet of UUVs had been developed and deployed quickly under a UON — Urgent Operational Need. Due to the accelerated development and limited testing, the UUVs had not been equipped with the software necessary to launch their torpedoes. What the United States primarily needed was the ability to intercept otherwise secure communications, which the UUVs could do at little risk. Weaponizing the UUVs without extensive testing and full confidence in their artificial intelligence, however, was another matter.

After Gallagher’s explanation, Wilson realized that Secretary Verbeck, or someone supporting her, had fabricated the armed-UUV scenario to justify the destruction of the UUV, along with the supposed mother ship — Jimmy Carter — both of which now contained sensitive data that someone desperately wanted destroyed. Not knowing whether Verbeck was corrupt or an innocent pawn in this conspiracy, Wilson wasn’t sure how to proceed. Then an idea came to him.

“What do you and your UUVs do with the data they collect? Where is it sent?”

“To a black cell in the Pentagon. It gets screened there, and relevant information is forwarded to the CIA for evaluation.”

The CIA.

Wilson wondered to what extent the conspiracy ran; who was involved. But the real question was — who could he trust to divulge what he knew, so that the information shared would spark an investigation and not the elimination of Wilson and his crew? If the wrong people learned that Wilson had discovered the mother submarine he had been ordered to sink was actually Jimmy Carter, they wouldn’t flinch about adding Michigan to the list.

When Gallagher mentioned the CIA, Wilson realized there was one person he could trust without doubt: Christine O’Connor.

“Do you have a communication channel with the CIA?”

Gallagher nodded. “We occasionally pass data to them and get queries.”

“Can you establish a videocon with the CIA director?”

“Director O’Connor?”

“I’ve worked with her several times. She’s someone we can trust with this information.”

“I can request an urgent videocon. You want it with the director only, correct?”

Wilson nodded.

Gallagher picked up the phone and requested the presence of Jimmy Carter’s Communicator, and a lieutenant soon arrived. Instructions were provided and the junior officer left to draft the outgoing transmission. While they awaited the Communicator’s return, the two Commanding Officers discussed their unique situation.

“Until we sort this out, I suggest we stick together,” Wilson said, “working as a team in case another submarine is sent to sink either or both of us.”

Gallagher nodded his agreement. “What’s your waterspace assignment?” he asked, inquiring about Michigan’s operating area.

Wilson provided the details.

“Same as mine,” Gallagher replied, shaking his head.

Waterspace management was a sensitive issue for submarines, with operations centers in Norfolk and Pearl Harbor controlling the movements of every U.S. submarine, ensuring that no two submarines were in the same water at the same time without special safeguards. It was a safety issue: detecting and avoiding other submarines wasn’t nearly as easy as it was for surface ships, which used radar to quickly determine the solutions to other surface craft.