The Sum of All Fears.pdf - Delta Force

Jack's eyes closed again, and he wished his headache would go away. 'That's our
structural problem. We look at various probabilities. If you give people a firm
opinion, you run the risk of being wrong. Guess what? People remember when
you're wrong a lot more often than when you're right. So the tendency is to
include all the possibilities. It's intellectually honest, even. Hell of a good
dodge. Problem is, it doesn't give people what they think they need. On the user
end, people as often as not need probabilities rather than certainties, but they
don't always know that. It can drive you crazy, Ben. The outside bureaucracies
ask for things we often as not cannot deliver, and our inside bureaucracy
doesn't like sticking its neck out on the line any more than anyone else.
Welcome to the real world of intelligence.'
'I never figured you for a cynic.'
'I'm not a cynic. I'm a realist. Some things we know. Some things we don't. The
people here are not robots. They're just people looking for answers and finding
more questions instead. We have a lot of good people in this building, but
bureaucracy mutes individual voices, and facts are discovered more often by
individuals than committees.' There was a knock on the door. 'Come in.'
'Dr Ryan, your secretary isn't – '
'She's having a late lunch.'
'I have something for you, sir.' The man handed the envelope over. Ryan signed
for it and dismissed the messenger.
'Good old All Nippon Airlines,' Ryan said after opening the envelope. It was
another NIITAKA report. He snapped upright in his chair. 'Holy shit!'
'Problem?' Goodley asked.
'You're not cleared for this.'
***
'What seems to be the problem?' Narmonov asked.
Golovko was in the uncomfortable position of having to announce a major success
with unpleasant consequences. 'President, we have for some time been working on
a project to penetrate American cipher systems. We've had some successes,
particularly with their diplomatic systems. This is a message that was sent to
several of their embassies. We've recovered all of it.'
'And?'
***
'Who sent this out?'
'Look, Jack,' Cabot said, 'Liz Elliot took the last SPINNAKER seriously, and she
wants State's opinion.'
'Well, that's just great. What we've learned from it is that KGB has penetrated
our diplomatic ciphers. NIITAKA read the same cable that our ambassador got. So
now Narmonov knows what we're worried about.'
'The White House will say that it's not all that bad. Does it really hurt that
he knows what our concerns are?' the Director asked.
'The short version is – yes, it does. Sir, you realize that I didn't know about
this cable, and how do I read it? I get the text from a KGB officer in Tokyo.
Jesus Christ, did we send this inquiry out to Upper Volta, too?'
'They got it all?'
Jack's voice turned to acid. 'Care to check the translation?'