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GWOT 2 - Reputation
Jun. 5th, 2019 06:24 pmGWOT 2 - Reputation
I am finishing my post incident paper on the fairgrounds mutual aid event when my E-mail chimes.
I have my E-mail set to chime when I get an external E-mail, i.e. from outside our company ecosystem. Usually, but not always, it is my nominal Employer with something inane, but once in a while actually critical.
But occasionally it is from Homeland. Those E-mails need to be jumped on quick. Lives can be lost.
Another high tech company missed an E-mail from Homeland. Three hours later, their H1B visa holders were 'repatriated' as part of 'Homeward Bound.'
I knew about this because a ruggedized laptop had turned up on the local black market and quietly purchased by one of my agents. Not just for the intrinsic value - suitably reformatted, it was now the Mobile Display Terminal for the fire engine - but for the potential intelligence value. Backtracking the owner is how I found out they got 'repatriated' but somehow their personal effects got sold locally.
This E-mail was from Homeland. It was a polite query confirming that we had responded to the incident and was this the E-mail for Echo 18?
I looked again at my report. Was it sufficiently mealy mouthed? Yes.
So I attached it to my reply confirming that yes, I was Echo 18, and any feedback on our performance was appreciated.
Two minutes later, I received a reply. Not from Homeland.
"Dear Sir: On behalf of the County of Santa Clara, the Supervisor's Office, the Sheriff's Office, and the other agencies involved in the critical event, we wish to express our thanks and appreciation for the lifesaving actions taken by your team."
The E-mail was through CountyComm and unsigned. Only header information (my E-mail generates a unique thread for each external E-mail event) showed it was related to the Homeland query.
Uh, you're welcome? I typed that and hit sent.
We hadn't done shit.
We hadn't done anything that normal cops shouldn't be doing on a normal day.
Except that we're not cops. And we were simply insufficiently afraid of Homeland.
###
About a day later, I heard from Betty that one of our intel sources had heard a joke at his work.
"So, that fairgrounds shit was going nuts. Sheriffs rolled up, city police rolled up, Homeland rolled up, the Marines rolled up. Nothing doing. So the Supervisor offered a million dollars to the agency that could calm shit down.
"Out of nowhere comes these guards in this beat up armored truck, roll their truck right into the middle of the crowd, pile on with sticks, and calm it down.
"The Supervisor goes over to this Echo 18 asshole, asks him what he's going to spend the million bucks on.
"'I think first we're going to get our brakes fixed.'"
###
The day after that, we were told that a Homeland survey and training team would be visiting campus next week. Did Tuesday or Wednesday work better for us?
Shit.
I am finishing my post incident paper on the fairgrounds mutual aid event when my E-mail chimes.
I have my E-mail set to chime when I get an external E-mail, i.e. from outside our company ecosystem. Usually, but not always, it is my nominal Employer with something inane, but once in a while actually critical.
But occasionally it is from Homeland. Those E-mails need to be jumped on quick. Lives can be lost.
Another high tech company missed an E-mail from Homeland. Three hours later, their H1B visa holders were 'repatriated' as part of 'Homeward Bound.'
I knew about this because a ruggedized laptop had turned up on the local black market and quietly purchased by one of my agents. Not just for the intrinsic value - suitably reformatted, it was now the Mobile Display Terminal for the fire engine - but for the potential intelligence value. Backtracking the owner is how I found out they got 'repatriated' but somehow their personal effects got sold locally.
This E-mail was from Homeland. It was a polite query confirming that we had responded to the incident and was this the E-mail for Echo 18?
I looked again at my report. Was it sufficiently mealy mouthed? Yes.
So I attached it to my reply confirming that yes, I was Echo 18, and any feedback on our performance was appreciated.
Two minutes later, I received a reply. Not from Homeland.
"Dear Sir: On behalf of the County of Santa Clara, the Supervisor's Office, the Sheriff's Office, and the other agencies involved in the critical event, we wish to express our thanks and appreciation for the lifesaving actions taken by your team."
The E-mail was through CountyComm and unsigned. Only header information (my E-mail generates a unique thread for each external E-mail event) showed it was related to the Homeland query.
Uh, you're welcome? I typed that and hit sent.
We hadn't done shit.
We hadn't done anything that normal cops shouldn't be doing on a normal day.
Except that we're not cops. And we were simply insufficiently afraid of Homeland.
###
About a day later, I heard from Betty that one of our intel sources had heard a joke at his work.
"So, that fairgrounds shit was going nuts. Sheriffs rolled up, city police rolled up, Homeland rolled up, the Marines rolled up. Nothing doing. So the Supervisor offered a million dollars to the agency that could calm shit down.
"Out of nowhere comes these guards in this beat up armored truck, roll their truck right into the middle of the crowd, pile on with sticks, and calm it down.
"The Supervisor goes over to this Echo 18 asshole, asks him what he's going to spend the million bucks on.
"'I think first we're going to get our brakes fixed.'"
###
The day after that, we were told that a Homeland survey and training team would be visiting campus next week. Did Tuesday or Wednesday work better for us?
Shit.
