Deadly Ideals

Intelligence operatives at high levels commonly establish back channels with foreign operatives to conduct collaborative work. The work includes exchange of prisoners, sharing of select information and providing warning notices. A secret meeting between these two operatives would not be suspect within the intelligence community. The topic of the meeting, however, combined operations between the agencies, went beyond their authority.

The two established a date and time for a meeting at an undisclosed location in Turkey. Ilensky opened the conversation with Trent.

"My agency has intercepted a secret communication from our president to one of your presidential contenders. Ilensky reached into a briefcase and drew out a copy of the Joint Powers Agreement. He handed it to Trent.

He continued, “I believe the draft document will enable me to gain the necessary resources I need to execute my operational plan against the Islamic terrorist cell operating just outside Kosovo. You, my friend, possess those resources and we both have an interest in creating stability in that region. I envision a partnership between us to share our intelligence concerning the terrorist movement and to combine resources when necessary to attack the problems which we uncover. Would you be interested in such an arrangement?”

Trent balked. “The United States really wants to go after the terrorists but my hands are tied. I haven't been given any authority to pursue your suggested course of action. I personally see a lot of merit to the arrangement but I can't make an overt start to such an operation.”

Ilensky argued back, “Implementing the directive now could not only cement the new arrangement operationally but also allow us to work out some of the bugs in a pilot mode. Full scale overt operations could be revealed after the document was signed. After all, both of our countries have many intelligence allies. Why shouldn't you and I set up the first operation as a model for others to follow?”

Trent was itching to resume active operations against the terrorists just as the Russian Director was. The CIA had been subordinated for too long to the political interference that characterized the current intelligence and defense environment in the United States. The population wanted peace through surrender and the Congress was playing into that thought. Ilensky and Trent agreed on the plan for different reasons. The Russian wished to regain stability in the region to further the Russian economic goals and the American wanted to conduct an assault against the Islamic Jihad, the single greatest threat to the United States. Both men believed their countries would admire and respect them for their courage and foresight. In the end, they agreed to move forward with an operation beginning in Kosovo and they named the plan “Operation Terror Strike.”

Ilensky could commit only 10 agents already stationed in Kosovo to the operation. Trent had significantly more resources at his command. The American could commit 50 agents and procure another small army of 200 mercenaries. More importantly, he could dispatch two missile-equipped Apache helicopters without arousing suspicion. The compound in Kosovo operated outside normal population boundaries and both men felt no one would notice if it were to be wiped off the face of the earth. Well, the terrorist movement itself would notice but they had no legitimate body politic to whom they could argue their case. Trent would ensure that sufficient propaganda pointing to a competing faction was prepared in the event the terrorists were able to convince the world the training compound was a religious site. In that case, blame would fall to one of the warring ethnic factions in the region. As Trent said to the Russian during the meeting, it didn't matter which faction was blamed. The meeting ended after the two intelligence operatives shook hands.

In a world of 6.6 billion people, hardly anyone knew that the unsigned document was generating the first wave of chaos. Few people would find out.