Chapter Three CIA Presentation

“The reason I’ve called you all here this afternoon,” the president goes on, “is that Allison feels we all need to be brought up to speed on a critical situation she sees developing in Iran. A nuclear threat. Allison, the floor is yours.” And this better be good, my dear.

“Thank you, sir,” McDonald says, then gets right into the meat of her presentation with little preamble. “We are all aware of the rhetoric that the president of Iran has been putting out over Iran’s right to have nuclear capabilities for domestic use. This is nothing new. However, Iran’s recently elected president has an advantage that past presidents have not had. Iran is beginning to sit quite comfortably on a major influx of money because of the skyrocketing price of oil. And they appear to be using a great deal of that money for major expansion of their nuclear program.”

John Anderson, with short, thick grey hair, a receding hairline and a bulldog jaw, puts his elbows on the attaché case that sits across his lap. Locking his hands and dropping his chin upon them, he looks up at McDonald, consciously working to keep from appearing irritated. “Excuse me. Hasn’t the IAEA given Iran a clean bill of health, nuclear-wise?” he asks her pointedly. “The president of Iran’s toeing the line.” I’ve had it with you Central Intelligence types crying wolf.

McDonald has gotten used to John Anderson’s attitude when it comes to the CIA. She continues unrattled. “You’re right, John. But may I point out that the IAEA is the same agency that failed to detect Iran’s hidden nuclear program for over twenty years. So, are we to sit back and believe the IAEA, or do we look at the level of intelligence we’re gathering to make decisions in the best interest of the United States?”

“Whaddya got here, new information, or merely a comb-through of old intel?” John Walker interrupts. My people aren’t tellin’ me this, thinks the national security advisor, a burly, cantankerous, white-haired man who both speaks and thinks in the pronounced southern accent of a boy born and bred in southwest Georgia.

“Intelligence reports indicate that Iran has several nuclear development sites, as you know, John,” McDonald says with a slightly exaggerated politeness. “That, of course, is not new. However we now know that Iran has over four hundred fifty nuclear experts on their payroll, and that is new information.” Walker may look mollified, but he’s far from it.

“I certainly don’t have to remind any of you,” she goes on, looking around at all of them, “that their secret nuclear weapons program is being supervised by both the military and their Supreme Leader. The president is merely a mouthpiece. The Supreme Leader has all the control, the Supreme Leader and the mullahs he has chosen to serve as his Guardian Council."