The Planner Read online

  Planner introduced himself, as “Planner” and gave a brief background concerning his involvement in the aviation industry before being “head-hunted” for operations for the CIA several, unspecified, years previously.

  When Planner felt he had the audience’s attention, he leaned on the podium with both arms as though he was settling in for a fire-side chat.

  “I’m guessing most of you don’t need any context for the work we do. You trust in our leaders and you go out and do whatever is necessary. That is how it should be but I just want to say a few words of the predicament that we are in at the moment. The big picture, so to speak. You might not appreciate this yet, but we’re in danger. The USA is in danger. Something that you probably know in the back of your minds but put to one side most of the time. Our economy, our whole way of life of life is run on one commodity: Oil; Agriculture, Industry, Transport, our military. 99.9 % of it is all run on oil: fuel, plastics, chemicals… And the problem we face today is that we have reached Peak Oil Production. From this day, or maybe this year, next year. From here on in, we will have increasing demand and not enough supply. After Peak Oil, production is expected to drop in the order of 10 % per year. Needless to say this will be impacting our way of life in the USA in way that the economists can’t imagine. What we do know is that it is going to be hard. So what we need to do is protect the country and provide a soft landing for the economy. We need to change. And we’re the people to help make that change happen; a catalysing event. Maybe more than one. Our psychologists tell us we need to shock the public into making change. They won’t be able to do that themselves. That will be our job; to shock the American people.”

  The audience was very quiet. Planner needed to feel the audience reception as he went along. He was ready to adapt if the team were not receptive, so unlike most of his presentations, he did not show an agenda. His first slide showed, incongruously, a map of the Gulf of Mexico with a flight plan overlaid.

  Planner straightened up and pointed to the slide with his laser pointer. “This was a plan created in 1962 called Operation Northwoods, you may already know about it. It was designed to provide the shock, political climate, to allow the United States to intervene in Cuba; Solve the Soviet Dilemma; Prevent World War 3. You know all those good little things we do.”

  Planner received the minor chuckles from the audience that he desired. He continued outlining the flight plan with his red laser light beam. “The plan was to have a remote controlled airliner, supposedly full of American students, blown up over the Caribbean in full view of the world’s media. Radio transmissions supposedly from the airliner would announce the airliner was attacked by Cuban Mig fighters. The wreckage and bodies would be lost at sea. Deception was verified and validated by using a real airliner for take off, all recorded on newsreel, but then switched in mid-air with the pilotless drone. Radar transponders were switched synchronously to fool radar operators. We’d have credible experts, with no association to the agency, endorsing the cover story… This would be the psychological jolt on society required by the politicians to go to war against Cuba. You’ve probably seen many similar type of plans but you could say this is our model for Operation Rainbow: real people enter the plane but the plane that crashes is empty. So the… er… yes?” A team member had raised his hand. Planner could see the hand but not who it was.

  The team member, labelled “Indigo”, was in his mid-thirties and probably the scruffiest person in the room, unkempt hair and wearing a dark, three-day-beard. His voice was uncertain. “But this plan was not used. So why? I mean… was there any specific reason? I think what I’m trying to say is… it seems unnecessary to make the mid-air switch.”

  Planner struggled with an adequate answer but his response sounded confident, “The mid-air switch being unnecessary… not so, it is a slight of hand trick. A reality needs to be created, without our direct story-telling if possible, in order for it to be believed. This is required for any PsyOp2. I shouldn’t have to explain that. In terms of Northwoods’ rejection; yes, you’re right. Kennedy did reject the plan. Politicians always worry about blowback, as should we. If I had to go for a single reason for the plan’s rejection, then I’d say, it was the passengers; the credibility of their back-story. They’d planned for fake funerals but there was no feasible plan of generating all the grieving parents and identities of these students back then that could stand up to scrutiny. Certainly not in the time they’d allowed themselves.”

  Bates sitting near the front on the sidelines chipped in, “Of course that’s one of the roles Operation Rainbow, generating those identities. And we have many volunteers, joining the Witness Protection Programme3, creating seemingly real casualties, so we can create solid back-stories and legends nowadays.”

  Planner joked. “And with most news editors and TV channels being part of the firm nowadays, being recruited from WITSEC, any investigative journalists or the free press won’t worry us as much anymore.”

  There was general laughter from the audience. They were all aware of Operation Mockingbird4 that established a CIA presence in all US mass media organisations.

  Indigo hesitantly raised his hand again and after a nod from Planner, uttered. “Going back to the radar picture, wouldn’t radar operators see the aircraft and drone come together and separate?”

  “That’s a very good point, er… Indigo, right,” Planner replied, admiring his persistence in his challenge to the plan. “We intend to do the switch in an area of poor radar coverage. Particularly after we close down the main ARSR over the operational area.”

  “ARSR-what?” someone called out.

  Planner smiled, “Air Route Surveillance Radar”. And added, “And in any case, air traffic controllers only really use the transponder codes and not any raw radar.”

  Indigo rubbed his chin considering the implications.

  Planner resumed his scripted words, clicking onto a set of bullet points on a new powerpoint slide. “So this is our job: Operation Northwoods updated for the 21st Century: Fly a drone. Convince the FAA it is an airliner. Have it hijacked. Cause a commotion. Have it blow up somewhere over the United States. The most likely scenario is crashing the plane into a building.

  A slightly built, Mediterranean-looking woman, caught Planner’s eye. Once eye-contact was locked-on, she released her missile of a question, “What’s the target?” she said.

  Planner looked uncomfortable, “The target is confidential at the moment”, he said. “But we will be giving telephone warnings ahead of time to allow evacuation and reduce needless casualties. We’re interested in televising the event and minimising collateral damage.”

  The woman, code-named Turquoise, nodded and appeared satisfied.

  “Yes,” Planner clarified. “This is a domestic operation, no trips down to South America for this one. So it can be blamed on Iraq or Iran or whatever our Commander in Chief has in mind. That’s our Mission Impossible. Sorry, it’s not pretty.”

  “So there are we planning an invasion of a particular country? Do we have to find specific nationals and nationalities?” called a female voice from the back.

  “That has not been described to me. I understand we have been receiving cooperation from certain Middle Eastern countries in providing operatives. Particular nationalities are not essential to the plan.”

  Planner could feel many members of the audience relax and he felt he could then breathe easily from then onwards. “Now, I know you have all been selected for this job because of your previous experience, trustworthiness and loyalty. But this is a domestic job and some civilians may, actually almost certainly, will, get hurt or killed. Obviously, no-one wants that but, you all know about the secret wars we fight for our country. I know you’ve all done foreign missions but this is different and I understand that. If there’s anybody that wants to get out now then that is fine. We can arrange a suitable exit. Subject to the usual non-disclosure terms, of course…” Planner let this sink in before concluding melodramatically. “B
ecause once you’re in, you’re in for keeps. I guess you know that. Anyone?”

  Silence. Planner expected nothing less. “I take it then, you are all in. If you’re not, come and see me later. Seriously.” Planner looked directly at Indigo’s gaze, who then immediately looked down.

  Planner then clicked the computer mouse to select the next powerpoint slide and with authority announced, “Now this action is authorised by the Contingency of Government5 Select Committee. It is controlled via the Joint Special Operations Committee and the CIA’s Special Activities Division. It is classified Top-Secret-Code-Word-Strap-3 Team-Eyes-Only. This means there is no communication outside this office about this project. All non-routine external communication is through me. Even to the White House. Understood?”

  There was a murmur from audience. They understood.

  Planner then switched off the slide projector and Bates adjusted the blinds to bring back daylight into the room.

  Planner’s tone change to a more conversational style, “You’ll be glad to hear that there are two significance bonus payments for the team. On the day of the event and six months after the event. Tax-free, of course!”

  The audience murmured approval.

  “Incidentally”, Planner said, “don’t put this bonus all into your bank account or your credit card, unless you like talking to the IRS. Ok. That is all.”

  The audience started chatting amongst themselves immediately. Planner and Bates exited the room quickly, brushing past a document on the edge of the table, which then fell onto the floor. The document was the original plan for Operation Northwoods.6

  * * * *

  Planner and Bates walked quickly down the corridor.

  “That went well”, observed Bates.

  “We managed to make the outrageous seem normal”, observed Planner sardonically. “Although I guess nothing is normal for these field operative guys.”

  “Welcome to Spook Central,” joked Bates. “They all have families… so go figure.”

  “So who are we seeing tomorrow?” asked Planner.

  “Nicholas”, Bates replied. “Well, he’s now called Nicholas, Colonel Nicholas. He used to run Rainbow but after minor health concerns, he’s reigned back a bit. He designed the Nicholas operation and is now running it. Then tomorrow night we’re flying off to California to visit the other part of the Rainbow Team.”

  “The Stage B Team?”

  “Right.”

  Chapter Two: Nicholas

  The following morning, Bates and Planner were standing at an unremarkable door and gave it a knock. Nothing on the outside gave a clue as to what was behind the door.

  “What was Nicholas’ minor health concern?” asked Planner.

  “A heart attack?” said Bates.

  “That’s minor?” said Planner incredulous.

  “A minor one,” nodded Bates.

  Colonel Nicholas opened the door and let them in. Nicholas was in his late fifties, clean-shaven, slim, bald and tall and dressed in a light gray suit. He certainly seemed fit for his age. He welcomed Bates and Planner into a busy office similar in size to Rainbow’s, and then into a further smaller, private inner office. On the wall was a large, military-style logo with a cartoon jet fighter in the middle of a cage with metal bars.

  Nicholas explained, “Our job is to keep the air force at bay. Hence the cage”, He pointed to the logo. “Nicholas Cage. Sorry, all the code names are sort of stupid like that.”

  “Right”, said Planner.

  Nicholas continued, “Needless to say, it’s the air force’s job to intercept enemy aircraft, straying airliners and, dare I say, hijacked aircraft too.”

  “And I guess they are good at that,” observed Planner.

  Nicholas sat back in his chair, fingers pressed together. “The best air defence money can buy. Best radar, best aircraft, best computers.”

  “Lots of money, sure, but how good is it, really?” asked Bates sceptically.

  “On civil aircraft? The USAF intercept about 100 times a year?7” he replied coolly.

  “How about for uncivil aircraft?” asked Planner.

  Nicholas stood up and paced, after a few hums, he said, “For the past forty years, we have had biennium trials of our radar defences. The game was played out with real aircraft with the Brits acting as the Red Team. The Royal Air Force flew their stealthiest aircraft, three of them, Vulcan bombers, with the objective to nuke New York. We won if we could just spot their bombers. They won if one of their bombers got to twenty miles of New York. This is public record”.

  Nicholas bent down and took a book from a bookshelf and dropped it in front of Bates and Planner. The book was “Vulcan 607” by Roland White. It was about the Falklands War raid undertaken by the RAF using the old British, Flying Wing, V Bomber, the Vulcan. Planner assumed that the book corroborated Nicholas’s assertion concerning these war games.

  Bates murmured, “I’m thinking that I’m not going to like this.”

  “Well, you’d be right”, Nicholas stated. “All three of their aircraft sailed through for the first ten years of these games. And they still technically won for next ten years. In theory, the Brits could have nuked New York. But since 1980, we’ve had a 100 % interception success rate.”

  “So the USAF can protect New York?” mused Planner. “I presume you know about our target?”

  “I do know, although no-one else in Operation Nicholas knows. Not officially,” stated Nicholas tightly.

  “Officially I can tell you and your team,” said Planner. “It’s the World Trade Center.”

  “Yes,” said Nicholas without emotion.

  “On similar problems,” said Bates helpfully, “to cause a delay in a command-based hierarchy such as the USAF, the method, I’ve seen, is to chop-off-the-head8, paralyse the HQ and delay.”

  “Yes,” said Nicholas in an overly drawn out manner. “What about three air commands: USAF, Navy and National Guard. And a lot of worthy hero-wannabes capable of independent action?” Nicholas asked rhetorically.

  “So this is a bit of a show stopper?” Planner observed coolly. “How are we going to deflect the air defences? I know about switching off the Massachusetts J53 radar.9”

  Nicholas smiled, “Ah yes, that’s just a minor part. We have three phases of the operation: Nicholas A, Nicholas B, Nicholas C…”

  Bates turned to give Planner a knowingly look and wry smile.

  The Colonel went to a white board that has a rough map of USA. “Naturally”, he started, “most aircraft will be deployed on training exercises.” He drew arrows from north-east USA to Alaska, New Mexico and Caribbean.

  Planner interrupted, “Won’t that be kind of obvious?”

  Nicholas added two more arrows, “Five separate training exercises. Most of which have been annual events for years. We’ll just be going-large this year10“.

  “Uh. Ok. So how many actual interceptors will there be left?” asked Planner, cutting to crux of the issue.

  Nicholas draws five little triangles to represent aircraft. “Flyable aircraft?” Nicholas said. “Five or six!11 We’ll have each USAF, National Air Guard and US Navy aircraft pinpointed and pinned down. We’ll view the rota carefully. Each pilot and controller will be identified, each having an off-day with either senna pod or a celebration the night before… Their flight plans will have them flying in the wrong directions. The executive will be split and all orders have to be authorised by them, or rather, by the COG, and the COG Team will be unavailable, of course.”

  The Colonel paused as he recalled the details from memory. “For Nicholas A: We’re changing all the intercept procedures. Emergency roll out: all sorted before the summer. The hardest job has been the computer software changes. A rush-job… but it has still taken a year to complete! We started by looking at the problem from the civilian side, the FAA air traffic controllers. By removing the raw radar picture from the FAA computer systems, they will only ever see the aircraft’s squawk code from transponders”. The Colonel clea
ned an area of the map and drew a dot with four digits underneath to represent the transponder code.

  “And we control those transponder codes?” Planner asked.

  “Yes,” said the Colonel, “allowing the FAA only to see what we want them to see. And all this is just-in-case someone in the command chain attempts to by-pass the new procedures.”

  “But the military will still be able to track aircraft down without transponders,” observed Planner.

  The Colonel speckled the board with extra dots. “But not if we introduce extra radar blips via FAA’s link to NORAD. And before you ask, yes, we do have a subcontractor in place to add those tracks.1213”

  Planner glanced over to Bates, before asking Nicholas, “Ok. But how do we track our aircraft?”

  Nicholas replied, “We have an entirely separate radar picture delivered via AWACS. Processed at Top Secret14, NORAD and FAA won’t be able to see what is really going on. Just us.” Nicholas drew a crude picture of an AWACS aircraft in red and circles certain dots in red and continued, “So that’s Nicolas Phase B. Our simulations indicate that there will be no fighter intercepts for around 90 minutes.”

  “Hmm, that’s a good constraint on the event,” Planner mused. “The politicians wouldn’t want to be out of control any longer than that.”

  Bates chipped in, “And Nicholas Phase C? What’s the tidy up phase looking like?”

  Nicholas laughed. “I had a few plans in my head about Phase C but I think that will be the easy part,” he said. “The military will act all incompetent and then argue for money for an upgrade to their radars. I’m sure there’s a few migrating birds that we can’t track at the moment.”

  “And Santa Claus15 can be pretty tricky”, added Bates.

  Nicholas laughed, “That’s right!”

  Planner and Bates spent the rest of the afternoon talking over details of Operation Nicholas with the Colonel. When the meeting broke up Planner asked Nicholas, “So I’m sort of taking over from you on Rainbow. Do you have any advice for me?”