Since the author also requests remuneration, we would ask these

W >> Winn Schwartau >> Since the author also requests remuneration, we would ask these

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"Off the record, Ty," Scott started, "how're the feds viewing
this mess?"

Tyrone hated the position he was in, but Scott had given him a
ltoe recently. It was time to reciprocate.

"Off?"

"So far off, so far off that if you turned the light "On" it
would still be off."

"It's a fucking mess," Tyrone said quickly. He was relieved to
be able to talk about it. "You can't believe it. I'm down there
to watch a crisis management team in action, but what do I find?"
He shook his head. "They're still trying to decide on the size
of the conference table." The reference caught Scott's ear.
"No, it's not that bad, but it might as well be."

"How is this ECCO thing put together? Who's responsible?"

"Responsible? Ha! No one," Tyrone chuckled as he recounted the
constant battles among the represented agencies. "This is the
perfect bureaucratic solution. No one is responsible for shit,
no one is accountable, but they all want to run the show. And,
no one agency clearly has authority. It's a fucking disaster."

"No one runs security? In the whole government, no one runs
security?"

"That's pushing it a little, but not too far off base."

"Oh, I gotta hear this," Scott said reclining in the deep plush
cloth covered couch.

"Once upon a time, a super secret agency, no one ever spoke the
initials, but it begins with the National Security Agency, got
elected by the Department of Defense to work out communications
security during the Cold War. They took their job very seriously.

"Then along came NIST and IBM who developed DES. The DOD formed
the Computer Security Initiative and then the Computer Security
Evaluation Center. The DOD CSEC became the DOD Computer Security
and then after NSA realized that everybody knew who they were, it
became the NCSC. Following this?"

Scott nodded only not to disrupt the flow.

"Ok, in 1977, Carter signed a bill that said to NSA, you take
over the classified national security stuff, but he gave the
dregs, the unclassified stuff to the NTIA, a piece of Commerce.
But that bill made a lot of people unhappy. So, along comes
Reagan who says, no that's wrong, before we get anything con-
structive done, let me issue a Directive, number 145, and give
everything back to NSA.

"That pissed off even more people and Congress then passed the
Computer Security Act of 1987, stripped NSA of what it had and
gave NIST the unclassified stuff. As a result, NSA closed the
NCSC, NIST is underbudgeted by a factor of 100 and in short, they
all want a piece of a very small pie. That took over 4 years.
And that's whose fault it is.

"Whose?"

"Congress of course. Congress passes the damn laws and then
won't fund them. Result? I get stuck in the middle of third tier
rival agency technocrats fighting over their turf or shirking
responsibility, and well , you get the idea. So I've got ECCO to
talk to CERT to talk to NIST to talk to . . .and it goes on ad
nauseum."

"Sorry I asked," joked Scott.

"In other words," Ty admitted, "I don't have the first foggy idea
what we'll do. They all seem hell bent on power instead of
fixing the problem. And the scary part?"

"What's that?"

"It looks like it can only get worse."

* * * * *

Tuesday, November 11
White House Press Room

"Mr. President," asked the White House correspondent for Time
magazine. "A recent article in the City Times said that the
military has been hiding a super weapon for years that is capable
of disabling enemy computers and electronics from a great dis-
tance without any physical destruction. Is that true, sir, and
has the use of those weapons contributed to the military's suc-
cesses over the last few years?"

"Ah, well," the President hesitated briefly. "The Stealth pro-
gram was certainly a boon to our air superiority. There is no
question about that, and it was kept secret for a decade." He
stared to his left, and the press pool saw him take a visual cue
from his National Security Director. "Isn't that right Henry?"
Henry Kennedy nodded aggressively. "We have the best armed
forces in the world, with all the advantages we can bring to
bear, and I will not compromise them in any way. But, if there
is such a classified program that I was aware of, I couldn't
speak of it even if I didn't know it existed." The President
picked another newsman. "Next, yes, Jim?"

During the next question Henry Kennedy slipped off to the ante-
room and called the Director of the National Security Agency.
"Marv, how far have you gotten on this EMP-T thing?" He waited
for a response. "The President is feeling embarrassed." Another
pause. "So the Exchange is cooperating?" Pause. Wait. "How
many pieces are missing?" Pause. "That's not what Mason's
article said." Longer pause. "Deal with it."

Immediately after the press conference, the President, Phil
Musgrave, his Chief of Staff, Henry Kennedy and Quinton Chambers
his old time ally and Secretary of State had an impromptu meeting
in the Oval Office.

They sat in the formal Queen Anne furniture as an elegant silver
coffee and tea service was brought in for the five men. Minus
Treasury Secreatry Martin Royce, this was the President' inner
circle, his personal advisory clique who assisted in making grand
national policy. Anything goes in one of these sessions, the
President had made clear in the first days of his Administration.
Anything.

We do not take things personally here, he would say. We have to
explore all options. All options. Even if they are distasteful.
And in these meeting, treat me like one of the guys. "Yes, sir,
Mr. President." The only formality of their caucuses was the
President's fundamental need to mediate the sometimes heated
dialogues between his most trusted aids. They were real
free-for-alls.

"Henry," the President said. "Before we start, who was that
reporter? Where the hell did that question come up about the
weapon stuff?"

"Forget him. The story started at the City Times. Scott Mason,
sir." Musgrave replied quickly. His huge football center sized
body overwhelmed the couch on which he sat. "He's been giving
extensive coverage to computer crime."

"Well, do we have such a bomb?" he asked with real curiosity.

"Ah, yessir," Henry Kennedy responded. "It's highly classified.
But the object is simple. Lob in a few of the EMP-T bombs as
they're called, shut down their communications and control, and
move in during the confusion. Very effective, sir."

"Well, let's see what we can do about keeping secrets a little
better. O.K., boys?" The President's charismatic hold over even
his dear friends and long time associates made him one of the
most effective leaders in years. If he was given the right
information.

The President scanned a few notes he had made on a legal pad.

"Can I forget about it?" the President closely scrutinized Henry
for any body language.

"Yessir."

The President gave Henry one more glance and made an obvious
point of highlighting the item. The subject would come up again.

****************************************************************

Chapter 12

Thursday, November 14
NASA Control Center, Johnson Space Center

The voice of Mission Control spoke over the loudspeakers and into
hundreds of headsets.

THE GROUND LAUNCH SEQUENCER HAS BEEN INITIATED. WE'RE AT T-MINUS
120 SECONDS AND COUNTING.

The Space Shuttle Columbia was on Launch Pad 3, in its final
preparation for another secret mission. As was expected, the
Department of Defense issued a terse non-statement on its pur-
pose: "The Columbia is carrying a classified payload will be used
for a series of experiments. The flight is scheduled to last
three days."

In reality, and most everyone knew it, the Columbia was going to
release another KH-5 spy satellite. The KH-5 series was able,
from an altitude of 110 miles, to discern and transmit to Earth
photos so crisp, it could resolve the numbers on an automobile
license plate. The photographic resolution of KH-5's was the
envy of every government on the planet, and was one of the most
closely guarded secrets that everyone knew about.

T-MINUS 110 SECONDS AND COUNTING.

Mission control specialists at the Cape and in Houston monitored
every conceivable instrument on the Shuttle itself and on the
ground equipment that made space flight possible.

A cavernous room full of technicians checked and double checked
and triple checked fuel, temperature, guidance, computers sys-
tems, backup systems, relays, switches, communications links,
telemetry, gyros, the astronauts' physiology, life support
systems, power supplies . . .everything had a remote control
monitor.

"The liquid hydrogen replenish has been terminated, LSU pressuri-
zation to flight level now under way. Vehicle is now isolated
from ground loading equipment."

@COMPUTER T-MINUS 100 SECONDS AND COUNTING

"SRB and external tank safety devices have been armed. Inhibit
remains in place until T-Minus 10 seconds when the range safety
destruct system is activated."

The Mission Control Room had an immense map of the world spread
across its 140 feet breadth. It showed the actual and projected
trajectories of the Shuttle. Along both sides of the map were
several large rear projection video screens. They displayed the
various camera angles of the launch pad, the interior of the
Shuttle's cargo hold, the cockpit itself and an assortment of
other shots that the scientists deemed important to the success
of each flight.

T-MINUS 90 SECONDS AND COUNTING

"At the T-Minus one minute mark, the ground launch sequencer will
verify that the main shuttle engines are ready to start."

T-MINUS 80 SECONDS AND COUNTING

"Liquid hydrogen tanks now reported at flight pressure."

The data monitors scrolled charts and numbers. The computers
spewed out their data, updating it every few seconds as the
screens flickered with the changing information.

T-MINUS 70 SECONDS AND COUNTING

The Voice of Mission Control continued its monotone countdown.
Every airline passenger is familiar with the neo-Texas twang that
conveys sublime confidence, even in the tensest of situations.

The Count-down monitor above the global map decremented its
numbers by the hundredths of seconds, impossible for a human to
read but terribly inaccurate by computer standards.

"Coming up on T-Minus one minute and counting."

T-MINUS 60 SECONDS.

"Pressure systems now armed, lift off order will be released at
T-Minus 16 seconds."

The voice traffic became chaotic. Hundreds of voices give their
consent that their particular areas of responsibility are ship-
shape. The word nominal sounds to laymen watching the world over
as a classic understatement. If things are great, then say 'Fuel
is Great!' NASA prefers the word Nominal to indicate that sys-
tems are performing as the design engineers predicted in their
simulation models.

T-MINUS 50 SECONDS AND COUNTING.

The hoses that connect the Shuttle to the Launch Pad began to
fall away. Whirls of steam and smoke appeared around portions of
the boosters. The tension was high. 45 seconds to go.

"SRB flight instrumentation recorders now going to record."

Eyes riveted to computer screens. It takes hundreds of computers
to make a successful launch. Only the mission generalists watch
over the big picture; the screens across the front of the behe-
moth 80 foot high room.

T-MINUS 40 SECONDS AND COUNTING

"External tank heaters now turned off in preparation for launch."

Screens danced while minds focused on their jobs. It wasn't until
there were only 34 seconds left on the count down clock that anyone
noticed.
The main systems display monitor, the one that contained the sum of
all other systems information displayed a message never seen before
by anyone at NASA.

@COMPMEMO "CHRISTA MCAULIFFE AND THE CHALLENGER WELCOME THE CREW
OF THE SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA."

"We have a go for auto sequence start. Columbia's forward comput-
ers now taking over primary control of critical vehicle functions
through lift-off."

T-MINUS 30 SECONDS AND COUNTING

"What the hell is that?" Mission Specialist Hawkins said to the
technician who was monitoring the auto-correlation noise reduc-
tion systems needed to communicate with the astronauts once in
space.

TWENTY NINE

"What?" Sam Broadbent took off his earpiece.

TWENTY EIGHT

"Look at that." Hawkins pointed at the central monitor.

TWENTY SEVEN

"What does that mean, it's not in the book?"

TWENTY SIX

"I dunno. No chances though." Hawkins switched his intercom
selector to 'ALL', meaning that everyone on line, including the
Mission Control Director would hear.

TWENTY FIVE

"We have an anomaly here . . ." Hawkins said into his mouthpiece.

TWENTY FOUR

"Specify anomaly, comm," The dry voice returned. Hawkins wasn't
quite sure how to respond. The practice runs had not covered
this eventuality.

TWENTY THREE

"Look up at Video 6. Switching over." Hawkins tried to remain
unflustered.

TWENTY TWO

"Copy comm. Do you contain?"

TWENTY ONE

"Negative Mission Control. It's an override." Hawkins answered.

TWENTY - FIRING SEQUENCE NOMINAL

The voice of Mission Control annoyed Hawkins for the first time
in his 8 years at NASA.

"Confirm and update."

NINETEEN

Hawkins blew his cool. "Look at the goddamned monitor for Chris-
sakes. Just look!" He yelled into the intercom.

EIGHTEEN

"Holy . . .who's . . .please confirm, local analysis," the sober
voice sounded concerned for the first time.

SEVENTEEN

"Confirmed anomaly." "Confirmed." "Confirmed." "Confirmed."
The votes streamed in.

SIXTEEN

"We have a confirm . . ."

T-MINUS 15 SECONDS AND COUNTING.

TEN

"We have a go for main engine start."

SEVEN

SIX

FIVE

"We have a main engine start . . .we have a cut off."

"Columbia, we have a monitor anomaly, holding at T-minus 5."

"That's a Roger, Houston," the commander of Space Shuttle Colum-
bia responded calmly.

"We have a manual abort override. Columbia's on board computers
confirm the cut-off. Can you verify, Columbia?"

"That's a Roger."

The huge block letter message continued to blaze across the
monitors. Craig Volker spoke rapidly into his master intercom
system. "Cut network feed. Cut direct feed. Cut now! Now!" All
TV networks suddenly lost their signal that was routed through
NASA's huge video switches. NASA's own satellite feed was simul-
taneously cut as well. If NASA didn't want it going to the public
it didn't get sent.

CNN got the first interview with NASA officials.

"What caused today's flight to be aborted?"

"We detected a slight leak in the fuel tanks. We believe that
the sensors were faulty, that there was no leak, but we felt in
the interest of safety it would be best to abort the mission.
Orbital alignment is not critical and we can attempt a relaunch
within 2 weeks. When we know more we will make further informa-
tion available." The NASA spokesman left abruptly.

The CNN newsman continued. "According to NASA, a malfunctioning
fuel monitor was the cause of today's aborted shuttle launch.
However, several seconds before the announced abort, our video
signal was cut by NASA. Here is a replay of that countdown
again."

CNN technicians replayed one of their video tapes. The video
monitors within Mission Control were not clear on the replay. But
the audio was. "Look at the goddamned monitor for Chrissakes.
Just look." Then the video went dead.

* * * * *

Steve Billings received an urgent message on his computer's E-
Mail when he got home from classes. All it said was

PHONE HOME

He dialed NEMO directly this time.

<<<<<>>>>>

He chose CONVERSATION PIT from the menu. La Creme was there,
alone and probably waiting.

What's the panic?

YOU DON'T KNOW? <>

Just finished exams . . .been locked up in student hell . . .

NASA ABORT . . .SHUTTLE WENT TO SHIT. <>

So? More Beckel fuel problems I s'pose.

UH . . .UH. NOT THIS TIME. NASA GOT AN INVITATION. <>

From aliens? SETI finally came through?

NOPE. FROM CHRISTA MCAULIFFE. <>

Right.

SERIOUS. SHE WELCOMED THE CREW OF COLUMBIA. <>

Get real . . .

I AM. CHECK OUT CNN. THEY RECONSTRUCTED THE VIDEO SIGNAL BEFORE
NASA SHUT THE FEED DOWN. THE MONITORS HAD A GREETING FROM CHRIS-
TA. ABORTED THE DAMN MISSION. <>

I don't get it.

NEITHER DO I. BUT, DON'T YOU PLAY AROUND IN NASA COMPUTERS?
<>

Sure I do. Poke and Play. I'm not alone.

AND REPROGRAM THE LAUNCH COMPUTERS? <>

Never. It's against the Code.

I KNOW THAT, BUT DO YOU? <>

What are getting at?

OK GOOD BUDDY . . .STRAIGHT SHOOTING. DID YOU GO IN AND PUT SOME
MESSAGES ON MISSION CONTROL COMPUTERS? <>

Fuck, no. You know better than that.

I HOPED YOU'D SAY THAT. <>

Hey . . .thanks for the vote of confidence.

NO OFFENSE DUDE. HADDA ASK. THEN IF YOU DIDN'T WHO DID?
<>

I don't know. That's sick.

NO SHIT SHERLOCK. NASA'S ONE PISSED OFF PUPPY. THEY HAVEN'T
GONE PUBLIC YET, BUT THE MEDIA'S GOT IT PEGGED THAT HACKERS ARE
RESPONSIBLE. WE MAY HAVE TO LOCK IT UP.

Damn. Better get clean.

YOU LEAVE TRACKS?

Nah. They're security is for shit. No nothing. Besides, I get
in as SYSOP. I can erase my own tracks.

BETTER BE SURE.

I'm not going back, not for a while.

THERE'S GONNA BE SOME SERIOUS HEAT ON THIS.

Can't blame 'em. What d'you suggest? I'm clean, really.

BELIEVE YOU GUY. I DO. BUT WILL THEY?

I hope so . . .

* * * * *

Friday, November 15
New York City Times

NASA SCRUBS MISSION: HACKERS AT PLAY?
by Scott Mason

NASA canceled the liftoff of the space shuttle Columbia yester-
day, only 15 seconds prior to liftoff. Delays in the troubled
shuttle program are nothing new. It seems that just about every-
thing that can go wrong has gone wrong in the last few years.
We watch fuel tanks leak, backup computers go bad, life support
systems malfunction and suffer through a complete range of incom-
prehensible defects in the multi-billion dollar space program.

We got to the moon in one piece, but the politics of the Shuttle
Program is overwhelming.

Remember what Senator John Glenn said during his historic 3 orbit
mission in the early days of the Mercury Program. "It worries me
some. To think that I'm flying around up here in a machine built
by the lowest bidder."

At the time, when the space program had the support of the coun-
try from the guidance of the young Kennedy and from the fear of
the Soviet lead, Glenn's comment was meant to alleviate the
tension. Successfully, at that. But since the Apollo fire and
the Challenger disaster, and an all too wide array of constant
technical problems, political will is waning. The entire space
program suffers as a result.

Yesterday's aborted launch echoes of further bungling. While the
management of NASA is undergoing critical review, and executive
replacements seem imminent, the new breed will have to live with
past mistakes for some time. Unfortunately, most Americans no
longer watch space launches, and those that do tune out once the
astronauts are out of camera range. The Space Program suffers
from external malaise as well as internal confusion.

That is, until yesterday.

In an unprecedented move, seconds after the countdown was halted,
NASA cut its feeds to the networks and all 4 channels were left
with the omnipresent long lens view of the space shuttle sitting
idle on its launch pad. In a prepared statement, NASA blamed the
aborted flight on yet another leak from the massive and explo-
sive 355,000 gallon fuel tanks. In what will clearly become
another public relations fiasco, NASA lied to us again. It
appears that NASA's computers were invaded.

CNN cooped the other three networks by applying advanced digital
reconstruction to a few frames of video. Before NASA cut the
feed, CNN was receiving pictures of the monitor walls from Mis-
sion Control in Houston, Texas. Normally those banks of video
monitors contain critical flight information, telemetry, orbital
paths and other data to insure the safety of the crew and machin-
ery.

Yesterday, though, the video monitors carried a message to the
nation:

CHRISTA MCAULIFFE AND THE CHALLENGER WELCOME THE CREW OF THE
SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA.

This was the message that NASA tried to hide from America.
Despite the hallucinations of fringe groups who are prophesizing
imminent contact with an alien civilization, this message was not
from a large black monolith on the Moon or from the Red Spot on
Jupiter. A Star Baby will not be born.

The threatening words came from a deranged group of computer
hackers who thought it would be great sport to endanger the lives
of our astronauts, waste millions of taxpayer dollars, retard
military space missions and make a mockery of NASA. After con-
fronted with the undisputed evidence that CNN presented to NASA
officials within hours of the attempted launch, the following
statement was issued:

"The Space Shuttle Columbia flight performing a military mission,
was aborted 5 seconds prior to lift-off. First reports indicated
that the reason was a minor leak in a fuel line. Subsequent
analysis showed, though, that the Side Band Communications Moni-
toring System displayed remote entry anomalies inconsistent with
program launch sequence. Automatic system response mechanisms
put the count-down on hold until it was determined that intermit-
tent malfunctions could not be repaired without a launch delay.
The launch date has been put back until November 29."

Permit me to translate this piece of NASA-speak with the straight
skinny.

The anomaly they speak of euphemistically was simple: A computer
hacker, or hackers, got into the NASA computers and caused those
nauseating words to appear on the screen. The implication was
obvious. Their sickening message was a distinct threat to the
safety of the mission and its crew. So, rather than an automat-
ic systems shut-down, as the CNN tape so aptly demonstrates, a
vigilant technician shouted, "Look at the g_______ed monitor for
Chrissakes! Just look!"

While the NASA computers failed to notice that they had been
invaded from an outside source, their able staff prevented what
could have been another national tragedy. Congratulations!

If computer hackers, those insidious little moles who secretively
poke through computer systems uninvited and unchecked, are the
real culprits as well placed NASA sources suggest, they need to
be identified quickly, and be prosecuted to the fullest extent
possible. There are laws that have been broken. Not only the
laws regarding computer privacy, but legal experts say that cases
can be made for Conspiracy, Sedition, Blackmail, Terrorism and
Extortion.

But, according to computer experts, the likelihood of ever find-
ing the interlopers is " . . .somewhere between never and none.
Unless they left a trail, which good hackers don't, they'll get
away with this Scott free."

Hackers have caused constant trouble to computer systems over the
years, and incidents have been increasing in both number and
severity. This computer assault needs to be addressed immediate-
ly. America insists on it. Not only must the hacker responsible
for this travesty be caught, but NASA must also explain how their
computers can be compromised so easily. If a bunch of kids can
enter one NASA communications computer, then what stops them from
altering flight computers, life support systems and other comput-
er controlled activities that demand perfect operation?

NASA, we expect an answer.

This is Scott Mason, waiting for NASA to lift-off from its duff
and get down to business.

* * * * *

Friday, November 15
New York City.

Scott Mason picked up the phone on the first ring.

"Scott Mason," he said without thinking.

"Mr. Mason? This is Captain Kirk." The voice was serious, but
did not resonate as did the distinctive voice that belonged to
William Shatner. Scott laughed into the phone.

"Live long and prosper." Mason replied in an emotionless voice.

"I need to talk to you," the voice came right back.

"So talk." Scott was used to anonymous callers so he kept the
rhythm of the conversation going.