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Global War of Terror: Connection Lost
Nov. 28th, 2016 08:48 amGlobal War of Terror: Connection Lost
"Crossing the line separating the [security] industry from military combat services is like losing your virginity. Either you are a mercenary company or you are not." -- James Davis, _Fortune's Warriors_
The man reeks of sweat, blood and cordite. He'd come in with one of the foraging parties and I'd promptly had him arrested - complete with bag over his head - and taken to Medical. One of Medical's exam rooms bordered our brig, and a member of this special detail now stood blocking the door. The fewer people who knew who he was, the better.
Imagining that security stops at your perimeter or within line of sight is one of the gravest sins a security manager can commit.
We ran our own network of agents and this man was one of them.
One of my guards cross trained as a medic was cleaning the knife wounds on his arms. "This is going to require sutures," he commented as he kept working.
The agent didn't even seem to notice the pain.
"They have a rooftop sentry on the northeast corner with either binoculars or night vision goggles, but he only used them twice - both at dusk - during the three hours I observed him. The area was dark but I could see lights reflected through an exterior window, steady not flickering. I did not hear any generator noise. Nearby buildings had full power for lights and some had guards. One building had guards with rifles. The target building had no guards visible at ground level."
He continued his report in detail, covering the area. He glossed over his ordeal in returning, except to assert affirmatively that he had not been followed and his interest in the target area had not been noticed.
"Get sutures, get sleep, we'll need you again shortly," I said.
# # #
To: tier3.support@[company].com
From: wouldn'tyouliketoknow
Re: your site in San Jose CA
Would you like your data turned back on? Wire $1 million to Luxembourg account 321-2312-3143.
# # #
"Unacceptable! Out of the question!"
Legal 1 was in a fine rant, and I thought I'd already seen his repetoire of rants.
"How would your Employer feel about this?"
I shrugged.
"My Employer is a payroll service that sends out increasingly irrelevant E-mails disconnected with any reality we inhabit. Their last safety newsletter was on 'Radiation Safety' and mixed up alpha, beta and gamma radiation."
We had an infirmary full of radiation burns, a decontamination point that saw frequent use, and daily site surveys that requires us to actually clean up 'hot spots' from fallout. We also screen all people and items entering the site, sometimes have an unpleasant surprise, and once in a while make a horrific discovery.
The newsletter was not merely worthless but actively dangerous.
"How would your Employer feel about its employees engaging in offensive combat operations?"
"Aside from the fact that we have done so every day since the first week of the Firecracker War, you mean?"
"This. Is. DIFFERENT! You are planning to seize a building, for all we know from the rightful owners, and commit armed trespass, commercial burglary, assault with deadly weapons and kidnapping. If the occupants resist, you plan to commit murder! JUSTIFY THAT!"
"THIRTY FIVE HUNDRED PEOPLE WILL DIE IF WE DON'T!" I shout back, and take a deep breath. "Some quick, some slow. If we don't get that data link restored. Paying the ransom is right out. No guarantee that they can or will turn it back on, or that they won't keep demanding more. IT confirms that satcom is not an option because all the birds we could use have been retasked to national security missions. AT&T is down. Verizon is down. Sprint is down. This obscure connection to a colo cage is all we had, and the longer it is down, the harder it will be to get back up. No data, no code, no way to honor our contracts, no suppplies, no hope, we die on the vine and we're FUCKED."
Deep breath.
"My plan is to legally go to our leased property, the colo cage, and secure it. We will act in self defense. I expect that we will find a crime scene and as good citizens in the absence of the police, do what we can to restore order within the law. We can and will make lawful private arrests under California Penal Code 837. These arrests will stand up in any court. My company's use of force doctrine explicitly permits this."
"Show me."
I get the tired, wrinkled booklet out and show him that page. His eyes furrow.
"In circumstances where the arrival of the police is delayed . . ." he trails off.
"San Jose PD is controlling a few key buildings, mostly city owned, part of downtown and the airport. They sometimes can set up checkpoints at major intersections. The Sheriff, not even that, witness last week on Almaden. The city police for this building do not even have a police station left - it burned to the ground! - and no one has seen one of them for weeks. The arrival of the police _IS_ delayed, for values of delayed that mean quite a long time. We are technically under martial law and a 24 hour curfew, but there is no one to enforce it. The only soldiers on the street are holding a control line for the ruins of SF, mostly to keep scavengers from trading in irradiated goods, and the occasional convoy pressing veterans for China service."
"What are you going to do with any prisoners? Says here in the book you will give them over to the police on arrival. But as you just said, the police are NOT COMING."
"Do you want to feed and house them indefinitely at your expense? Or give them free rides to a police checkpoint that may or may not be able to do anything with them? The only option is to let any prisoners go. This is what we will do. Lawfully arrest them, discover that the police are not coming, and let them go. If they are good, I will let them keep their shoes."
I threw out the touch of calculated cruelty like a piece of bait.
I have no intent to permit people who have taken 3500 people hostage to walk away.
There are internment camps. But I have no guarantee that we can get anyone put in them, or that they would not be freed to hold us hostage once again, or that they would not talk and we'd be doing it all over again with a more sophisticated gang of criminals.
"I cannot approve this."
"I'm not asking you to. This is an interdepartmental favor between Security and IT, that happens to also be a Severity Ten Critical Incident."
"Who is going?"
I name seven names.
"Who are they?"
"Three guards - all experienced, none military veterans - two IT techs, a network tech and an engineer."
"Who is in charge?"
I tap my badge.
"No. You are Essential Site Personnel and you are needed right here."
"If this mission fails, you won't have a site. You will have 2500 employees that need to be evacuated from the middle of a huge disaster area, and 900 odd refugees that will be left behind to die, and 100 contractors in Security and Facilities and Janitorial and Logistics who will die defending them.
"I've thought about this a lot. No Company employee can be directly involved in this. I have one manager who can run Security in my absence, sir. You. I am taking people you can do the job without. Even if all eight of us are killed, which is a possibility, you can hold the site and wait for evac or a miracle.
"I won't evac and I don't believe in miracles."
"Not even a last chopper out?"
"Especially not that. You remember that last helicopter off the roof of the American embassy in Saigon?"
We have a picture of it in the Security Control Center.
"Yes."
"Not Army. Not Navy. CONTRACTORS."
He blinks.
"I do not give you permission. I think you are on leave effective at once, for at least three days."
"I understand. I may need to leave the site during my personal time off, and my time records will reflect that status."
He nods and leaves and I continue with mission prep. If I don't think of it now, out in the field will be too late.
My E-mail chimes a few minutes later.
It is a boilerplate vendoor services contract between Client and some guy who shares my first and last name. The scope of work is to restore data connectivity to the site in San Jose, CA. I have access to client owned and leased facilities to perform this work, and authority to subcontract and bill for costs.
The amount is a one time payment of $100,000.
I can't help but do the math. A bill rate of $1,388 per hour.
I E-sign it and send it back. My eye catches on one of the boilerplate clauses.
"Contractor shall comply with all laws, rules and regulations including safe disposal of hazardous waste and a safe working environment."
That these two terms are blatantly contradictory is readily apparent to me.
I double check the several E-mail drafts I'd been working on, send them all, and close the laptop.
The time for planning was over.
# # #
I would learn much later that upstairs, Legal 1 was staring at his E-mail.
"Effective immediately, the area of California north of San Luis Obispo and Kern Counties shall be considered 'Out Of Country' for purposes of contracts and the Company Ethics Code." It is signed by the CEO, CFO and General Counsel.
There is a list of contracts affected by contract number.
One contract number is in bold.
The one with me.
"Crossing the line separating the [security] industry from military combat services is like losing your virginity. Either you are a mercenary company or you are not." -- James Davis, _Fortune's Warriors_
The man reeks of sweat, blood and cordite. He'd come in with one of the foraging parties and I'd promptly had him arrested - complete with bag over his head - and taken to Medical. One of Medical's exam rooms bordered our brig, and a member of this special detail now stood blocking the door. The fewer people who knew who he was, the better.
Imagining that security stops at your perimeter or within line of sight is one of the gravest sins a security manager can commit.
We ran our own network of agents and this man was one of them.
One of my guards cross trained as a medic was cleaning the knife wounds on his arms. "This is going to require sutures," he commented as he kept working.
The agent didn't even seem to notice the pain.
"They have a rooftop sentry on the northeast corner with either binoculars or night vision goggles, but he only used them twice - both at dusk - during the three hours I observed him. The area was dark but I could see lights reflected through an exterior window, steady not flickering. I did not hear any generator noise. Nearby buildings had full power for lights and some had guards. One building had guards with rifles. The target building had no guards visible at ground level."
He continued his report in detail, covering the area. He glossed over his ordeal in returning, except to assert affirmatively that he had not been followed and his interest in the target area had not been noticed.
"Get sutures, get sleep, we'll need you again shortly," I said.
# # #
To: tier3.support@[company].com
From: wouldn'tyouliketoknow
Re: your site in San Jose CA
Would you like your data turned back on? Wire $1 million to Luxembourg account 321-2312-3143.
# # #
"Unacceptable! Out of the question!"
Legal 1 was in a fine rant, and I thought I'd already seen his repetoire of rants.
"How would your Employer feel about this?"
I shrugged.
"My Employer is a payroll service that sends out increasingly irrelevant E-mails disconnected with any reality we inhabit. Their last safety newsletter was on 'Radiation Safety' and mixed up alpha, beta and gamma radiation."
We had an infirmary full of radiation burns, a decontamination point that saw frequent use, and daily site surveys that requires us to actually clean up 'hot spots' from fallout. We also screen all people and items entering the site, sometimes have an unpleasant surprise, and once in a while make a horrific discovery.
The newsletter was not merely worthless but actively dangerous.
"How would your Employer feel about its employees engaging in offensive combat operations?"
"Aside from the fact that we have done so every day since the first week of the Firecracker War, you mean?"
"This. Is. DIFFERENT! You are planning to seize a building, for all we know from the rightful owners, and commit armed trespass, commercial burglary, assault with deadly weapons and kidnapping. If the occupants resist, you plan to commit murder! JUSTIFY THAT!"
"THIRTY FIVE HUNDRED PEOPLE WILL DIE IF WE DON'T!" I shout back, and take a deep breath. "Some quick, some slow. If we don't get that data link restored. Paying the ransom is right out. No guarantee that they can or will turn it back on, or that they won't keep demanding more. IT confirms that satcom is not an option because all the birds we could use have been retasked to national security missions. AT&T is down. Verizon is down. Sprint is down. This obscure connection to a colo cage is all we had, and the longer it is down, the harder it will be to get back up. No data, no code, no way to honor our contracts, no suppplies, no hope, we die on the vine and we're FUCKED."
Deep breath.
"My plan is to legally go to our leased property, the colo cage, and secure it. We will act in self defense. I expect that we will find a crime scene and as good citizens in the absence of the police, do what we can to restore order within the law. We can and will make lawful private arrests under California Penal Code 837. These arrests will stand up in any court. My company's use of force doctrine explicitly permits this."
"Show me."
I get the tired, wrinkled booklet out and show him that page. His eyes furrow.
"In circumstances where the arrival of the police is delayed . . ." he trails off.
"San Jose PD is controlling a few key buildings, mostly city owned, part of downtown and the airport. They sometimes can set up checkpoints at major intersections. The Sheriff, not even that, witness last week on Almaden. The city police for this building do not even have a police station left - it burned to the ground! - and no one has seen one of them for weeks. The arrival of the police _IS_ delayed, for values of delayed that mean quite a long time. We are technically under martial law and a 24 hour curfew, but there is no one to enforce it. The only soldiers on the street are holding a control line for the ruins of SF, mostly to keep scavengers from trading in irradiated goods, and the occasional convoy pressing veterans for China service."
"What are you going to do with any prisoners? Says here in the book you will give them over to the police on arrival. But as you just said, the police are NOT COMING."
"Do you want to feed and house them indefinitely at your expense? Or give them free rides to a police checkpoint that may or may not be able to do anything with them? The only option is to let any prisoners go. This is what we will do. Lawfully arrest them, discover that the police are not coming, and let them go. If they are good, I will let them keep their shoes."
I threw out the touch of calculated cruelty like a piece of bait.
I have no intent to permit people who have taken 3500 people hostage to walk away.
There are internment camps. But I have no guarantee that we can get anyone put in them, or that they would not be freed to hold us hostage once again, or that they would not talk and we'd be doing it all over again with a more sophisticated gang of criminals.
"I cannot approve this."
"I'm not asking you to. This is an interdepartmental favor between Security and IT, that happens to also be a Severity Ten Critical Incident."
"Who is going?"
I name seven names.
"Who are they?"
"Three guards - all experienced, none military veterans - two IT techs, a network tech and an engineer."
"Who is in charge?"
I tap my badge.
"No. You are Essential Site Personnel and you are needed right here."
"If this mission fails, you won't have a site. You will have 2500 employees that need to be evacuated from the middle of a huge disaster area, and 900 odd refugees that will be left behind to die, and 100 contractors in Security and Facilities and Janitorial and Logistics who will die defending them.
"I've thought about this a lot. No Company employee can be directly involved in this. I have one manager who can run Security in my absence, sir. You. I am taking people you can do the job without. Even if all eight of us are killed, which is a possibility, you can hold the site and wait for evac or a miracle.
"I won't evac and I don't believe in miracles."
"Not even a last chopper out?"
"Especially not that. You remember that last helicopter off the roof of the American embassy in Saigon?"
We have a picture of it in the Security Control Center.
"Yes."
"Not Army. Not Navy. CONTRACTORS."
He blinks.
"I do not give you permission. I think you are on leave effective at once, for at least three days."
"I understand. I may need to leave the site during my personal time off, and my time records will reflect that status."
He nods and leaves and I continue with mission prep. If I don't think of it now, out in the field will be too late.
My E-mail chimes a few minutes later.
It is a boilerplate vendoor services contract between Client and some guy who shares my first and last name. The scope of work is to restore data connectivity to the site in San Jose, CA. I have access to client owned and leased facilities to perform this work, and authority to subcontract and bill for costs.
The amount is a one time payment of $100,000.
I can't help but do the math. A bill rate of $1,388 per hour.
I E-sign it and send it back. My eye catches on one of the boilerplate clauses.
"Contractor shall comply with all laws, rules and regulations including safe disposal of hazardous waste and a safe working environment."
That these two terms are blatantly contradictory is readily apparent to me.
I double check the several E-mail drafts I'd been working on, send them all, and close the laptop.
The time for planning was over.
# # #
I would learn much later that upstairs, Legal 1 was staring at his E-mail.
"Effective immediately, the area of California north of San Luis Obispo and Kern Counties shall be considered 'Out Of Country' for purposes of contracts and the Company Ethics Code." It is signed by the CEO, CFO and General Counsel.
There is a list of contracts affected by contract number.
One contract number is in bold.
The one with me.
