Able Archer-83, The Cold War, and Lessons for the Current Iran Crisis—Five

For my friends and foes, I have a disclaimer about this set of postings. I am squarely in the middle politically, religiously, and socially. I have no axes to grind. However, I do heartily believe in the truth or my version of it based on research for as objective a point of view as is possible. The facts are the facts in this work you are about to read, but the opinions are mine. In short, I believe the Able-archer-83 saga was a harbinger of things to come, and we ignore the lesson as it may apply to the current escalation of belligerence occurring between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran at our peril. I pray for the leaders involved that no one inadvertently pulls the atomic trigger.

Let us examine the questions and dilemmas posed by the standoff between Iran and its mercurial Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, and the United States and its populist and attention seeking president. Since the 1979 revolution in Iran which deposed the Shah, the country has been ruled by a theocracy headed by a “Supreme Leader”—the autocratic controller of all aspects of Iran life, governmental, religious, military, social, justice, and economic. Khamenei has steadily eroded all rights to free speech, having a different religion, posting adverse comments about his regime and has pursued two principles of strategy: eliminating outside influences from contaminating his region—like democracy, libertarianism, Sunni Islam, western concepts of capitalism and judicial fairness (as opposed to God’s will, as dictated by Shi’ite cleric lawyers and judges). The other strategic working principle is to pursue an ever-increasing diplomatic interchange and interdependence with developing, non-aligned, and needy counties. It is an understatement of the first order to say that he cannot be influenced by Western reason, threats, or sanctions.

The abuses keep coming, in Khamenei’s mind. In April 2019 the U.S. threatened to sanction countries continuing to buy oil from Iran after an initial six-month waiver announced in November expired. According to the BBC, U.S. sanctions against Iran “have led to a sharp downturn in Iran’s economy, pushing the value of its currency to record lows, quadrupling its annual inflation rate, driving away foreign investors, and triggering protests.” (Wikipedia). The government of Iran has long recognized Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine, but the American government does not recognize a “State” of Palestine, and it does recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Khamenei and his minions deeply believe that western interests have always abused Iranians and other Muslims. He believes that the United States propped up the evil, rapacious, and corrupt Shah; and that given a chance, the “Great Satan” would depose his government and put in another puppet corrupt democrat who know-tows to the Americans. The sanctions placed on Iran by its enemies in the west come from the devil himself; so, any form of retaliation is sanctioned by God. God [in this case, Allah] is on Khamenei’s side and will not let him fail or the west to prevail. Hence, no sacrifice or risk is too much.

It is not all bravado or inflated bluster about Iran’s military capabilities: The government of Iran has a paramilitary, volunteer militia force within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, called the Basij, which includes about 90,000 full-time, active-duty, uniformed members. As many as eleven million men and women are members of the Basij who could potentially be called up for service. The Revolutionary Guards total 545,000 active troops.  Iran has an additional 350,000 strong Reserve Force. The total of Iran’s trained military force is upwards of 900,000. In an emergent or urgent situation, Iran could probably call up a million trained personnel which would enable the country to have among the largest troop mobilizations in the world—including the U.S. Would the U.S. win in an all-out conflict? Almost certainly, but consider the cost, as the president of the United States is doing at present.

The American president has made much of the importance of winning—especially against a totalitarian, terrorism exporting, and anti-American enemy—which accrues to his “Making America Great Again”—the overriding political purpose. It looks to the many of the nonaligned in the U.S. that we are approaching the scenario of the unstoppable force running into the immovable object. It is a serious question about when, not if, another Able Archer-83 incident propels us to or over the cliff.

Carl Douglass

Neurosurgeon turned Author who writes with Gripping Realism

Author Masterminds Charter Member

Able Archer-83, The Cold War, and Lessons for the Current Iran Crisis—Four

For my friends and foes, I have a disclaimer about this set of postings. I am squarely in the middle politically, religiously, and socially. I have no axes to grind. However, I do heartily believe in the truth or my version of it based on research for as objective a point of view as is possible. The facts are the facts in this work you are about to read, but the opinions are mine. In short, I believe the Able-archer-83 saga was a harbinger of things to come, and we ignore the lesson as it may apply to the current escalation of belligerence occurring between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran at our peril. I pray for the leaders involved that no one inadvertently pulls the atomic trigger. The Able Archer-83 exercise [culmination of Exercise Autumn Forge] was just that, an exercise. The hypothesis underlying the large military exercises was fictional, albeit something like well written historical fiction; some realities of the Cold War antagonisms were reflected in the scenario. The massive exercise involved 40,000 U.S. and NATO troops moving across western Europe, coordinated by encrypted communications systems. The planning included a scenario with the hypothetical opponent [Orange—fairly obviously the Warsaw Pact countries] opening hostilities in all regions of ACE [Allied Command Europe] on November 4, 1983, including numerous UK air bases. The defenders were the Blue [NATO], who declared a general alert but did not return hostilities at first. Two days later, Orange initiated the use of chemical weapons and by the end of that day had used such weapons throughout ACE. All of these “events” were simply part of the written scenario. There had been three days of fighting and a deteriorating situation prior to the start of the exercise proper. This was desired because—as previously stated—the purpose of the exercise was to test procedures for transitioning from conventional to nuclear operations.
 In the exercise, as a result of Orange advance, its persistent use of chemical weapons, and its clear intentions to commit second echelon forces rapidly, SACEUR [NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe] requested political guidance on the use of nuclear weapons.
           The Soviet interpretation of the exercise could not have been further afield from the intention of the framers of Able Archer-83. Moscow Center sent a nearly frantic telegram to the London Center which was seen by the British spy, Oleg Gordievsky, and shown to MI-6:
 In view of the fact that the measures involved in State Orange [a nuclear attack within 36 hours] have to be carried out with the utmost secrecy (under the guise of maneuvers, training etc) in the shortest possible time, without disclosing the content of operational plans, it is highly probable that the battle alarm system may be used to prepare a surprise RYaN [nuclear attack] in peacetime
 On February 17, KGB Permanent Operational Assignment assigned its agents to monitor several possible indicators of a nuclear attack throughout the western world. These included any actions suggesting that there was a group associated with preparing and implementing decisions about RYaN—the KGB code name for a feared Western nuclear missile attack. They began a feverish surveillance and monitoring program of U.S. operating services, installations, and communications staffs. The 1983 NATO exercise introduced several new elements not seen in previous years, including a new, unique format of coded communication, radio silences, and the participation of heads of government.
 This increase in realism, combined with deteriorating relations between the United States and the Soviet Union and the anticipated arrival of Pershing II nuclear missiles in Europe, led some members of the Soviet Politburo and military to believe that Able Archer 83 was a ruse of war, obscuring preparations for a genuine nuclear first strike by NATO and the U.S.
 When no RYaN occurred, and the Able Archer-83 exercise came to its planned peaceful end, the Soviets heaved a sigh of genuine relief, and no one pulled the trigger. There must have been a good many officials on both sides who aged years during that fateful month. High schools in the United States often gloss over the angsts of the Cold War by describing it as a “stable balance of power” between the antagonistic east and west. The Able Archer exercise and the Soviet reaction to it was, in fact, an extremely dangerous period when the world was staring at the brink of a nuclear catastrophe. Most of the citizens of the world never knew a thing about it.
 Much the same scenario is possible in the confrontation between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran in the spring and summer of 2019. How heavy is the finger on the trigger? How stable and responsible are the leaders of the opposing nations and their military leaders?

Carl Douglass

Neurosurgeon turned Author who writes with Gripping Realism

Author Masterminds Charter Member

Able Archer-83, The Cold War, and Lessons for the Current Iran Crisis—Three

For my friends and foes, I have a disclaimer about this set of postings. I am squarely in the middle politically, religiously, and socially. I have no axes to grind. However, I do heartily believe in the truth or my version of it based on research for as objective a point of view as is possible. The facts are the facts in this work you are about to read, but the opinions are mine. In short, I believe the Able-archer-83 saga was a harbinger of things to come, and we ignore the lesson as it may apply to the current escalation of belligerence occurring between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran at our peril. I pray for the leaders involved that no one inadvertently pulls the atomic trigger.

The Grandees of the Soviet Union—driven by the paranoid delusions of the KGB—were convinced that NATO and the Americans would have to strike a telling blow in 1983. They knew that the downing of the Korean airliner—KAL-007—was the result of pilot error on the part of both pilots: the Korean plane did stray into Soviet airspace, but quite innocently. The Soviet pilot reacted reflexively to the incursion and shot it down rather than to use rational judgment. The Soviet Union was convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that a retaliatory attack was eminent.

The British,—however—had an edge that allowed them to make rational judgments. They had a long-term ideological double agent within the London rezidentura, Oleg Gordievsky, who had risen to the top ranks of the KGB in England. His information had been 100% reliable in the past. He reported to his British handlers that Moscow Center had sent its residencies a flash telegram on November 8 reporting a massively increased alert status on American bases and frantically asking for further information regarding an American first strike. That information was incorrect; Gordievsky and his British handlers knew it was wrong; but the top Soviets, including the KGB did not want to hear otherwise. They were as slavish to their paranoid communist ideology as the Iranian leaders are to their intense religious beliefs.

Gordievsky and a few other senior KGB leaders tried to talk reason to their leaders but were reprimanded for giving their opinion instead of simply reporting the facts. The facts told the top Russian leaders that an attack was imminent, and that was that. In the current era, the “facts” tell the Ayatollahs that a nuclear attack by America is looming.

Able Archer-83 exercises were scheduled to begin on November 7, 1983 and to be conducted in much the same way as in the many previous years of the exercises. NATO, SHAPE [Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe], and the U.S. military knew that the purpose of the exercise in 1893 was to simulate a period of conflict escalation, culminating in the U.S. military attaining a simulated DEFCON 1 coordinated nuclear attack. It was to last five days. Despite Gordievsky’s intel, they could not fully appreciate the mindset of the Russians and that Able Archer-83 would bring the world to the brink—the closest it had ever been to nuclear holocaust.

The Soviet Union believed that its only chance of surviving the coming NATO strike was to preempt it. So, the U.S.S.R. readied its massive nuclear arsenal. The CIA reported activity in the Soviet Baltic Military Districts and in its satellite, Czechoslovakia. Further the CIA’s information determined that nuclear-capable aircraft in Poland and East Germany were placed on full alert status, including the nuclear strike forces. The DCIA and top ranking agents strongly suspected that Soviet ICBM silos—which were easily readied and difficult for the United States to detect—were also prepared for a launch.

The Soviets’ conclusions were entirely wrong, but the reasoning behind those conclusions were based on objective analysis of the information available to them from its spies. The stage was rapidly being set for the nuclear holocaust that the entire world had been fearing since the Cold War began.

Carl Douglass

Neurosurgeon turned Author who writes with Gripping Realism

Author Masterminds Charter Member

Able Archer-83, The Cold War, and Lessons for the Current Iran Crisis—Two

For my friends and foes, I have a disclaimer about this set of postings. I am squarely in the middle politically, religiously, and socially. I have no axes to grind. However, I do heartily believe in the truth or my version of it based on research for as objective a point of view as is possible. The facts are the facts in this work you are about to read, but the opinions are mine. In short, I believe the Able-archer-83 saga was a harbinger of things to come, and we ignore the lesson as it may apply to the current escalation of belligerence occurring between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran at our peril. I pray for the leaders involved that no one inadvertently pulls the atomic trigger.

What could events of 1983 have in common with the threats posed in 2019? The correlation is painfully similar and begs study by the belligerents in the current crisis. Yes, crisis. And by us who may become the cannon fodder.

Let us consider the background leading up to the crisis posed by the Able Archer-83 exercise. An entire generation of the world lived through the anxiety of the Cold War with the threat of achievable mutual destruction of the United States of America and its allies, and the Soviet Union and the Warsaw pact nations. Americans and most of the rest of the world trusted that the Americans were entirely rational people, keepers and protectors of nuclear power, and would never launch a pre-emptive strike against the U.S.S.R. and its satellites.

However, fairly recent research has revealed that the Soviets did not share that belief and opinion in the least degree. The most powerful leaders of the U.S.S.R.—the men with their fingers on the nuclear buttons—were paranoid to the nth degree and were quite frankly afraid of the United States and its intentions. That fire of that paranoia was stoked by the inflammatory rhetoric of then President Ronald Reagan. From the start of Reagan’s presidency, his administrated adopted a bellicose stance—fueled by his far-right conservative base—toward communism and the Soviet Union—one that favored serious constraints being imposed Soviet strategic and global military capabilities. The administration’s rigorous focus on this objective resulted in the largest peacetime military buildup in the history of the United States, a development that did not go unnoticed by the KGB and the Politburo.

Reagan also ushered in major escalation in the rhetoric of the Cold War. The president frequently referred to the Warsaw Pact nations as the “evil empire.” On June 8, 1982, Reagan, in a speech to the British House of Commons, the president declared “… Freedom and democracy will leave Marxism and Leninism on the ash heap of history.” The Soviets took that entirely literally as the working intention of America.

The KGB and governmental leaders began to see preparation for a massive nuclear strike in almost every action and reaction of the U.S. and its allies. They even had a name for it: RYaN [a surprise nuclear attack in peacetime]. From the Soviet’s perspective, war preparations were escalating by the Americans. On March 23, 1983, President Reagan announced the development of the Strategic Defense Initiative—popularly called “Star Wars.” It was one of the most ambitious and controversial components of Reagan’s strategy, and it heightened Soviet fears to the level of frank paranoia, even to the delusionary level, especially among the spy ranks of KGB senior officers. While Reagan portrayed the initiative as a safety net against nuclear war, a construct accepted by the majority of Americans, the leaders in the Soviet Union viewed it as a definitive departure from the relative weapons parity of détente and an escalation of the arms race into space. Yuri Andropov—former director of the KGB who had become General Secretary following Brezhnev’s death in November 1982—criticized Reagan for “inventing new plans on how to unleash a nuclear war in the best way, with the hope of winning it.”

The Russian military—and especially the upper echelons of its intelligence services—believed their worst fears about the United States without a scintilla of doubt, and they began to take measures to protect the motherland and its people; they even debated pre-emptive strikes, just as they presumed America was planning.

Russia’s equipment and its maintenance was often poorly designed and tested and inadequately maintained. A near-catastrophe occurred as a result. On September 1, 1983, Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was shot down by a Soviet interceptor over the Sea of Japan near Moneron Island—just west of Sakhalin island—while flying over prohibited Soviet airspace. All 269 passengers and crew aboard were killed, including Congressman Larry McDonald, a sitting member of the United States House of Representatives from Georgia and President of the anti-communist John Birch Society—a co-believer in the near divine inspiration of the conservative movement with President Reagan. The world held its breath.

Carl Douglass

Neurosurgeon turned Author who writes with Gripping Realism

Author Masterminds Charter Member

No More Gun Massacres: Seven Positive Ways to Stop the Carnage

            It makes me mad that we have had another two murderous rampages in the United States. It makes me even madder that we continue the same old rhetoric after every one of them.

This is how the arguments go: “Enough is enough. We have to do away with guns!” followed by “Guns don’t kill, people do; we can’t stop the lone gunman!

Send more money to the NRA to protect your second amendment rights.”

And the other two polar opposites are: “Another madman went on a rampage; keep the guns out of their hands!” followed by, “Most mentally ill people are victims rather than perpetrators; leave them alone.”

And in a couple of weeks, it all blows over. Nothing gets done, and the lawmakers breathe a sigh of relief that they were once again able to kick the can further down the road.

In my opinion, it is time posthumous to stop publishing abroad those now hackneyed arguments because they stymie any useful action.

The reason for that is in the DNA of law makers. They all want to be re-elected, and they all know that any issue that is nearly evenly divided among the electorate will bring down many incumbents.

If there is an issue that 50% of voters oppose, then it is considered to be political suicide for a legislator or president to vote for it. Better never to let such an issue come to the point of actually be voted upon.

So, here is another set of suggestions which may not be so fraught with legislative pitfalls:

1.         Presidents, governors, and legislators pass laws and provide funding for metal detectors in every entrance to every venue where crowds or groups gather, including—but not limited to schools, rallies, sports events, transportation hubs, festivals, large conferences, etc. The money for the detectors comes from taxes and mandatory contributions by venue and event producers.

2.         Every school, public or private, has at least two well-armed law enforcement officers patrolling the inside of the school whenever school or extracurricular events are in progress. Similarly, government buildings have armed guards on patrol in the buildings during the time when officials and the public are present.

3.         Every venue, including schools, has at least two armed guards patrolling the grounds and perimeters whenever an event or school is in session. This includes government buildings.

4.         Sensible prohibitions are enacted to deal with mentally ill persons, even if rights are not entirely respected by every single advocate. The definitions of which mentally ill persons should not have guns, usually temporarily, should be determined by psychiatric professionals and law enforcement and not by political activists or lobbyists.

5.         The NRA and other gun enthusiasts can be brought in as volunteers after being fully vetted by law enforcement. It is possible that the powerful NRA would be enthusiastic to participate.

6.         Military level weaponry and high amount ammunition magazines be only allowed on thoroughly vetted gun ranges under supervision of well-trained gunnery experts with the imposition of stringent rules for use. If private owners wish to keep their weaponry in such institutions, they can register and use them there. No one…no one in the United States of America needs a fifty round automatic or semi-automatic rifle, Stinger missile, grenade launcher or anything like them for self-protection.

7.         Hunters, gun enthusiasts, and self-defense devotees can have appropriate firearms for their enjoyment and peace of mind otherwise, in keeping with the Second Amendment.

The federal government can meet with gun enthusiasts to work out legislation after a month or two of discussion. Then, it will be time to act. Get laws that actually curtail the access by killers to places where large numbers of people gather.

This is not political; it is not radical right or left; it is not abusive of anyone’s rights. But the right of a parent to expect his or her beloved child to return home each day after school, alive, uninjured, and free of fear, should trump any other consideration of rights.

I am a neurosurgeon. In the course of a long career I operated on somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 gunshot wounds to the head. Most of them either died or were permanently maimed. It is time to do something real and lasting to stop the carnage.

The American College of Surgeons agrees with my concerns: “As we remain on the front lines treating seriously injured patients who arrive in trauma centers across the U.S., the College remains steadfast in its commitment to addressing this public health epidemic by applying a consensus-based approach to solving this public health crisis. We have worked to identify a constructive, nonpartisan approach to this challenge, which includes partnering with professional organizations to develop injury prevention initiatives that seek to address the root causes of violence and make firearm ownership as safe as reasonably possible. (Read the article published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.)”

Carl Douglass

Neurosurgeon turned Author who writes with Gripping Realism

Author Masterminds Charter Member

Sybil Norcroft Meets the Devil - 13

Chapter Thirteen

Despite the longer distance by air, Lincoln reached Morgantown, West Virginia half a day sooner than Sybil. By the time they met, Lincoln had rounded up the local FBI CIRG [Critical Incident Response Group] agents, Morgantown SWAT, and the West Virginia state highway patrol Special Response Team. They were suited up in their game day uniforms with all security precautions and were waiting impatiently to converge on the Morgantown Applied Linguistics and Media Development Center, a private company about which the local police could not mind out very little.

Sybil’s driver parked half a block away from where the law enforcement agents and officers had gathered. She was outfitted and armed the same as the rest of the agents in keeping with her basic credo of “A working woman, I am, and I wouldn’t ask you nothin’ I wouldn’t do.”

Lincoln introduced her all around. None of the men or the two women thought to suggest that this attractive slender woman should be held back in a protective rear guard.

“Thank you, Lincoln. Could you all give me the current sitrep?”

Lincoln and Lt. Col. Hershey Watson, head of the state patrol response unit brought her up to speed in short clipped and pertinent sentences—no long descriptions, and no lengthy opinions.

“Who is in tactical charge?”

“I am presuming that you are in overall strategic command, Madam DCIA; and with your consent, I will take tactical command,” Col. Watson told her.

She nodded her agreement and said, “Let’s do this.”

Per the prearranged plan from all units, the separate organizations advanced on the rather shabby warehouse type building: some from the street in front, some from behind, and some from side streets.

This was a “no-knock” warrant and search; so, the frontal assault took place simultaneously with the rear entry. Nothing about the entry was dainty. The heavy building doors caved in; the side windows were smashed; and a unit rappelled into the two-story building through a skylight. Every unit tossed flash-bang grenades in front of itself and was protected from the stinging smoke and blinding light by appropriate headgear.

The main room housed cubicles for 200 computers and their operators. None of them had the slightest inkling that a raid was about to surround them.

Col. Watson shouted through a bull horn, “Federal and State agents with a warrant. Step away from your computers and face the wall nearest you. Do not move. Do not attempt to alter your computer. Do not attempt to flee. Obey the orders of the officers.”

He repeated the loud orders three times. The computer specialists complied with benumbed speed and alacrity. It was oddly quiet in the room except for the shuffling of hurried feet.

Sybil ran into the room and surveyed the computer stations to be certain that no one was hiding and attempting to us a computer to spread warnings to locations away from the Morgantown building. The paramilitary law enforcement personnel tensely guarded the employees while a group of very efficient and burly crime scene workers entered from all entrances and quickly began to empty the building of all electronics. The large room was bare of anything but teeth-chattering employs and furniture in ten minutes.

 Sybil took the bull horn, “Who is in charge here?” she demanded.

For several minutes no one responded.

“Don’t make me repeat myself. I am not a patient person. Obstinate silence will bring down on you a federal obstruction charge. Capiche??”

A meek geek among the FROGS [Front Office Girls] raised her hand timidly.

“Speak.”

“I guess Mr. Chambers is the manager, but he’s not here.”

“Who is in charge now?” Sybil demanded brusquely.

“That’d be me, I guess,” said a man with his nose plastered against the northwest wall.

“Come and face me…now!”

The man was middle-aged and looked like Joe Public in every respect—common in all respects.

“Name?”

“Jerry Chambers, Ma’am.”

“What do you do here, Jerry?”

“I’m kind of like the foreman. I handle staff issues like shift assignments, check on production, and trouble shoot.”

“Big responsibility. Quickly tell me about the work that goes on here. We want to know about Beelzebub more than anything else. No one here should think they can withhold anything from me. Tell me the whole truth now or regret it very deeply later.”

Sybil’s delivery was the quintessential reason she was known by those who worked with her as “the snow queen” or sometimes “the ice queen.” Nobody beneath her, except Lincoln, called her Sybil.

“I’m gonna take the Fifth unless you promise me immunity. I know a lot, and I know my rights. Before I say another word, I want a lawyer,” Jerry said with color in his cheeks and defiance in his voice.

“This is federal and relates to a national emergency, Jerry. So, there’s no ‘fifth.’ but there is obstruction and lengthy interrogation if I don’t get what I need here and now.”

Jerry felt a good deal less defiant.

“I gotta have immunity. He’ll kill me and my family. There’s nothin’ you can do that is worse that the Beelzebub character has done, believe you me.”

“Make it good and quick, and I’ll be fair about immunity, and I will throw in full protection for you and your family. Waste my time, and you will get a good long stay in the clink while multiple agencies prepare their cases against you. Your family will go it their own in that case.”

Jerry did not doubt the seriousness of his tormentor. He was a rat caught in a corner by a herd of cats. There was no way out.

“Awright, awright, I’ll spill it all. First of all, everybody in this room knows most of what I am tellin’ you. Nobody’s an innocent. When you bleed me dry, you might wanna have chats with the other ring leaders.”

He named them in front of everyone in the room in a voice that left nothing to question about what he had said and who he had ratted out. There was a significant amount of sweating, shivering, trembling, and foot shuffling, going on in the large room by the time he finished reciting his list. He was very complete and detailed and apparently not as dumb as he looked.

The law enforcement officers had their hands full that day. Two hundred persons of interest were interrogated by sixty officers accompanied by seventy-two court reports and secretaries over eight hours. When they were finished, a lid of secrecy was clamped on the information; the two hundred employees were now suspects; and prison vans carted them all away to Fort Meade, Maryland where they had no means of communicating with the outside world—“for the duration” to use the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency’s succinct decision.

What was learned was priceless and brought forth an imperative. The Morgantown facility manipulated the language, the communication, and the perceptions of people all over the world. This would have been quite benign if it was about selling soap or to convince an unsuspecting public that they needed a particular ambulance chaser to save them from the clutches of greedy insurance companies. It was not benign: rather, the exacting science of linguistics and its powerful partner, applied linguistics was being effectively utilized to convey misinformation—read here, “lies”—on a wholesale level with the most wicked of intents. The Morgantown facility employees—in concert with the Siemens co-conspirators—were able to create videos of President Vladimir Putin addressing his military generals;  President Xi Jinping lecturing his powerful NPC [National People’s Congress], and President Donald Trump telephoning from the Oval Office to 10 Downing to plot with Prime Minister Boris Johnson to undermine the economy of the UK.

 In each of those dramas, terrible plots were being hatched to make the participants a cabal of dictators who would rule the world for their own gratification or a bunch of clowns creating the evidence for their own self-destruction, depending on the great unnamed puppeteer in the background’s caprice. Every part of every communication collected as evidence was one hundred percent false, and the falsity was not just “fake news.” It was so deftly and expertly created that the intonations, hints of dialects, facial and bodily movements, were identical to the real actions of the people portrayed. Computer renditions of thousands of videos of the “actors” speaking and performing were collated, sifted, and organized, so that any speech could come from any mouth with precise lip movements, facial expressions, enthusiasms, and angers. Heads could be transplanted; people could be aged or made younger; and messages inimitable to the well-being of the citizens of the world could be put into the mouths or pens of the world leaders of governments, churches, and political parties almost wholly undetectably.

It became abundantly clear that this grand scheme of deception and charade had been created by geniuses for the purposes of a very small handful of people—to  make them rich, powerful, and feared beyond the success of any Hitler, Stalin, Genghis Khan, or Borgia Pope. Every law enforcement officer was dumbstruck by what applied linguistics had in its arsenal and the degree of manipulation of language and communication that was possible by the scholars of the science.

The officers learned that applied linguistics was going to be a force to deal with by law enforcement and the courts for a long time to come. The key difference between old fashion scholarly linguistics and applied linguistics is that while linguistics is the scientific study of the structure and development of language in general or of particular languages, applied linguistics focuses on the practical applications of language studies. It studies how language and communication can be manipulated for affect. Applied linguistics studies language as it affects real-life situations and how it can alter communication for better or worse. Sybil and her partners in this investigation all sincerely hoped this misapplication of a science was the worst they would ever see.

Beelzebub and his brilliant minions—whoever they all might be—had made ample misuse of the areas of applied linguistics that suited their malign purposes: phonetics—the study of speech and sounds; phonology—the study of the patterning of sounds; morphology–study of the structure of words. Moreover, the field of study identifies, investigates, and offers solutions to language-related problems and how to influence what is said. Applied linguistics is an interdisciplinary science which studies and influences a vast number of areas, some of which are directly related to linguistics, and others apply to language planning, policy, translation, conversation analysis, interlinguistics, stylistics, pragmatics, education, communication, sociology, and even anthropology—all of which were right up Beelzebub’s nefarious alley.

That is, an applied linguist is not a grammarian or an historian and does not attempt to enforce rules within or impose rules on a language. Instead it is a science which concerns itself with observing and documenting language as it is spoken or otherwise employed, as in media, electronic transmissions, even sign language. It has incorporated principles that translate to practical machine translation software—or manipulation of recorded speech and other sounds—conversational (machine) agents—computer programs that can talk to a person like a “virtual nurse,” a default dialer to shunt questioners to an information gathering tool; or in medicine, to ask or answer a number of health questions much the same way a physician’s assistant would, and automatic question answering. It has led to text categorization—“spam v. not spam,” acceptable standardization of “decent v. indecent speech or writing.” The science of applied linguistics is capable of converting a collection of written or spoken material into machine-readable form which can be perverted into very realistic fake utterances by impersonated voices. Computational linguistics can be to linguistics what artificial intelligence is to computer science.

As in the case of Beelzebub and his minions, the science has advanced to an understanding and use of automated translation and human-machine interaction. Societies have grown up to further the principle mission of applied linguistics, i.e., to be a problem-driven field working towards the solution of language-related problems throughout the real world. Sybil gave a sigh which summed up the feelings about how these mercenary power-hungry monsters had perverted a truly useful science, much like Hitler’s perversion of evolutionary science and genetics with the pseudoscience of eugenics which led to the holocaust.

By the time of the nightly news, six major news channels carried a new Beelzebub diatribe, obviously related to the raid in Morgantown, despite the stringent efforts by all agencies to keep a lid on it.

New York Times, August 26

Attention earthbound ignoramuses:

I, Beelzebub, the Magnificent, declare that the efforts of the misguided fools of governments all over the world to interfere with my divine work will not be successful be they from the right or the left, the so-called educated or the simple true believers, by conservatives or liberals, by law enforcers or anarchists. I have enlisted the powers of Hades and his wife Persephone, Thanatos, and the Grand Master, Lucifer, himself. Be afraid. My time is near at hand.

Signed: Beelzebub, the Magnificent, Ha, ha, ha

An hour after the article dropped onto New York streets, bombings killed a total of 335 individuals in areas as disparate as Salt Lake City, Utah [Gay Pride Parade]; Mumbai, India [City wide protest against rape]; Batu Gajah, Malaysia [at the Kinta Golf Club during a reunion for all the alumni of the original Government English School—GES], Youngstown, Ohio [Zombi Apocalypse Annual Parade]; and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia [Meeting of the OPEC directors].

Carl Douglass

Neurosurgeon turned Author who writes with Gripping Realism

Author Masterminds Charter Member

Sybil Norcroft Meets the Devil - 12

Chapter Twelve

Stop One: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Sybil was met by Special Agent Hank Desmond who transported her to the Department of Linguistics, King Abdulaziz University, where they met Khalid bin Ali Al Humaidan, the Director General of GIP [General Intelligence Presidency/Al Mukhabarat Al A’amah], Prince Abdullah Hussein ibn Saud, President of the University, and Dr. Fahd bin Nayef, head of the department.

               

Frankly, Sybil did not hold out much hope of getting good intelligence from the usually secretive and paranoid Saudis, but she was surprised.

              

“Please have a seat, Director,” Al Humaidan offered. “We have been hard at work to find out the information you called about, and I think we have a line on your quarry.”

               

“Thank you, Director General, I am on a fishing expedition, as you know; and it will be a relief to catch something right off the bat. Please cut to the chase.”

               

“I love your American expressions like, ‘cut to the chase,’ they hit the target rather nicely. Here is a copy of four e-mails sent to the deputy director of the linguistics department. To use the common expression, we ‘hacked’ his private e-mails.”

               

He handed her the four documents. The IP address was from the Naval Observatory in DC. That was corroborating, but also somewhat disappointing. The sender was naval Lieutenant Samuel Richard Tosker—of whom Sybil had never heard anything before. The recipient was BtM@AOL.com and the electronic signature was Ha ha ha. The text was about how applied linguistics worked as a science in the first two e-mails. The third and fourth e-mails discussed back and forth about setting up a Saudi corporation in Sana’a, Yemen to be named Saudi Professional Applied Linguistics, Ltd. The most gaping absence was the lack of any other named individual. The most telling sentence in the four e-mails was “You have the funding; I have the expertise and the experts. We can control communications in every nation that speaks English, Mandarin, Arabic, and Russian, for a start. What we need for the next three months is a little more good chaos.” Signed Little BtM Ha ha ha.

               

“Do you know the location of these people, Director?”

               

“Oh, but of course. Sybil, you know from personal experience the effectiveness of Al Mukhabarat Al A’amah.”

               

She did indeed, and it made her shudder inwardly, an emotion she kept to herself by maintaining a soda-cracker facial expression.

               

“Care to share?”

               

“Anything to oblige our good American friends.”

               

“Said the crocodile to the scorpion on his back,” thought Sybil.

               

“I need to have a quick talk with Lt. Tosker, please, Sir.”

               

“We thought perchance that you would like to do that. We fashioned an emergency message to the very interested lieutenant, and he arrived in Jeddah last night. In fact, he is now sitting in Dr. Fahd bin Nayef’s inner office awaiting the Devil Himself.”

               

“Is he feeling well?”

               

“Whatever could you be suggesting, Sybil? He is, in fact, having a fine old time chatting with a truly brilliant young graduate student about applied linguistics, which is her chosen PhD field. Oh, did I mention that the young lady is not only very bright; she is a truly stunning beauty?”

               

“One of yours, Director?” Sybil asked with a knowing smile.

               

“Of course, My Friend; it would be lax of me to have it otherwise.”

               

Sybil had no time for chit-chat or for romancing the lieutenant when she came to face him.

               

“Lieutenant, do you recognize me?”

               

“I’m sorry, Ma’am, you look familiar, but I can’t place you.”

               

“My name is Sybil Norcroft. I am the current director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. I am here on a mission ordered by the president of the United States. I am busy, and I am serious. I have a few questions. If you value what is left of your pathetic little life, you will answer me truthfully and promptly.”

               

Without glancing at the document handed her by CIA Saudi Arabia SAC Hank Desmond, she rattled off in fast precise English the names, ages, general histories, present locations, and even the names of pets of Lt. Tosker’s nuclear family—eight people in all, the youngest age two--and of his parents, his wife’s parents and all six of their siblings. She made not threats, not even a harsh look—just business.

               

Lt. Tosker was not a stupid man. He knew he had been threatened by an expert, and that she was capable of carrying out any threat he could even imagine.

               

He paused for only a moment, “What do you want to know, and what kind of deal can I get? Immunity? Witsec? Guaranteed safety for my family? I know quite a lot; not everything; but enough to get me killed by this Beelzebub dude, if it ever gets out that I ratted.”

               

“Lieutenant, recognize that I have all the leverage and that you are, as of this moment, a guest of the Saudi Arabian government. That could be permanent, brief, or very, very long. The rest of your…suggestions…depend on what you tell me that I can use in a court. That court may not be one that gets public scrutiny, mind you; but it still likes to have real evidence. Start talking.”

               

He began slowly and haltingly; but after a minute, the wind got into his sails; and he poured out volumes of detailed information.

               

“What I know for a fact is that the whole Beelzebub enterprise is a very complex and interwoven network. I doubt that anyone but the man or woman who heads the thing actually knows the leader or the names of the leadership group. They have a massive amount of money collected from ransomware, extortion of governments and big companies, and from small cities, and cybertheft. To keep the victims of extortion willing to pay the exact amount demanded, the leadership has been scrupulous about keeping its promises. Once you pay, we leave you alone. China, Russia, England, and the US, have so far refused to give in. That means more terroristic attacks in those countries.

               

“I can give you the bank—it’s in Lichtenstein—that paid me my two million bucks. But, I don’t know any names other than that of the clerk that signed the check. I know the person who gives me orders—name of Gordon Lang, who works in the Agriculture Department. I know the person to whom I give information and instructions—name is Olivia Packer, works for Siemens. I know they’re important because this Packer woman is a director in the Siemens department involved in cybersecurity, including: infrastructure, digital transformation charge, applied linguistics, automation, digitalization, and electrification.”

               

The confession was recorded; and as soon as pertinent information was revealed, Sybil sent it along to the intelligence services and cybersecurity units of the relevant companies and nations. It took an hour to extract every bit of information the man had.

               

Sybil looked at Lt. Tosker when he sagged back in his chair and said, “I have just sent a message to the FBI to pick up your family and to take them to Fort Meade, Maryland to keep them safe. You are going to be taken to the brig in the same secure location, but you will not be allowed to speak to your family. That is as far as I will go. You are a traitor on the highest level. You should be executed but be grateful that the worst that happens to you is that you stay healthy alone in living quarters the size of your master bedroom closet for the rest of your life.”

               

She walked away and boarded her plane bound for Munich for a meeting with Olga Gabler, head of BSI [Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik--the upper-level federal agency in charge of managing computer and communication security for the German government. It is the German Federal Office for Information Security, digital counterintelligence, and cyber security]; Heinrich Wolfgang Streble, head of the BND [Bundesnachrichtendienst Federal foreign intelligence and security service; Deiter Langerter, chief of the BKA [Bundeskriminalamt--Federal criminal intelligence and security service]; and Lieutenant General Pieter Sturmgarten III, the head of MAD [Amt für den Militärischen Abschirmdienst--Federal military intelligence and security service].

               

She had prearranged the meeting and its purpose: a federal raid on the Aktiengesellschaft [Siemens AG] cybersecurity and digitalization unit located on Werner-von-Siemens-Straße in Munich. Shortly before landing  that Siemens CEO, Joe Kaeser, had agreed not to challenge the raid and to secure full cooperation in return for keeping the raid and its purpose out of the news media. He would be joining the senior intelligence officers during the raid.

Sybil and her entourage of important intelligence officials, the CEO, and a German signals and cybersecurity expert, swept quickly through the large building and up to the third floor. Joseph Finklestein, the director the cyber and digitalization unit, was sitting in his plush office working diligently on his computer when the entourage marched into his office and gave him the scare of his life.

“Was ist die Bedeutung dieser?” Finklestein demanded in a trembling voice.

CEO Kaeser said, “Do not be alarmed, Joseph, the meaning of this is that a Siemens employee or more than one may be implicated in the heinous Beelzebub case. These people are scouring the world for any information that would bring the criminals to justice and to put a stop to this senseless killing. You are requested to cooperate.”

Finklestein knew full well what a “suggestion” from Joe Kaeser meant.

He calmed down and said, “What can I do to help?”

“First, and very quietly, we need to know the exact location of your co-worker, Olivia Packer. Second, these agents will bring in a small army of specialists to take over every computer in your division. You are to give the order, and to tell them to lift their hands above their heads and away from their keyboards immediately. They will share every password they have, even personal ones. Verstehen sie?”

Finklestein answered meekly, “Ja, Ich verstehe.”

“He understands and will cooperate fully,” Kaesar told Sybil and the entourage.

With one exception, the computer searches and personal interrogations went with smooth German efficiency. That exception was a mousy mustachioed little man named Luis B. Cappachio, who made a mad dash for the exit, dropping his papers, his computer mouse, and his brief case, on the floor as he ran. The signals and cybersecurity expert tackled Luis; and, in short order, he and Olivia Packer were ensconced in the Siemens security office under armed guard.

Sybil and the German intelligence leaders began a hard and detailed interrogation of the pair after explaining the potential consequences of lying or obfuscating to questions posed in a national security emergency.

They both feared the murky unknown figure they knew only as Beelzebub the Magnificent; but, for the moment, they feared the American and German intelligence officers more. They admitted working together to further the Beelzebub enterprise for the staggering sum of 3.6 million € [4 million USD] each. Their families were promised by Sybil and her co-horts lifetime security, and they were promised that they would not be extradited or executed. For that largesse, they spilled their guts.

The following pertinent things were learned: the pair had facilitated in Siemens’ name the laundering of nearly a trillion USD through a consortium of banks regularly used by terrorists. Their unsuspecting co-workers—who believed they were working for the German government—had set aside their real work and had begun hacking major governmental and company computer secrets and transmitting them to a private computer center in Morgantown, West Virginia in the US. Unknown to the CEO of Siemens, the company gave its stamp of approval to the use of its digital technology, expertise, and machinery to cause the Chinese and Russian attacks on each other.

That piece of information alone put to rest any further antagonisms between the two nations, and the rest of the world who were made privy to the information were relieved of a huge angst. Immediately after walking out of the Siemens’ headquarters building, Sybil called Lincoln on his sat phone and told him to go to Morgantown and why. She boarded her plane for the same destination. There seemed to be some clearing of the fog of deception, but Sybil was far from satisfied.

Carl Douglass

Neurosurgeon turned Author who writes with Gripping Realism

Author Masterminds Charter Member

Sybil Norcroft Meets the Devil - 11

Chapter Eleven

The first break in the computer hacking room of the Lubyanka came just before midnight. Everyone in the room was exhausted, and their nerves were frayed. Michael Yvgenevich Petrovsky had been working all day on a hunch he had about the Chinese involvement in the vast hacking operation. First, he had put in several hours trying to connect to the Irans Quds miliitary counter-intelligence actions over the last month. He found no connection to the Chinese, the Russians, or Islamic terrorist organizations. Michael decided that he had come to a dead-end and was about to give up. Then the answer was handed to him in a moment of illuminating serendipity.

               

He decided to check incoming e-mail messages from the United States to the russkiya mafiya. He was tired and looking into Russia’s premier ongoing criminal enterprise was about as likely to turn up valuable evidence as writing a letter to Father Christmas at the North Pole. But, Michael was trained to look for small things, nuances. He found an encrypted set of e-mails going to and from the US Navy, the Chinese Honker Union, and the vory v zakone [syndicate boss and chief of the “thieves-in-law” of the Solntsevskaya Bratva] and the russkiya mafiya. Never before had he or anyone else run across any communication by the US military to the lords of crime in the Russian Federation. That in and of itself was enough to cause a spike in his epinephrine blood level. But there was something else: something small, nuanced, and something that would likely have been overlooked by a lesser hacker. It appeared in the middle of a long stretch of 0s and 1s, 1s and 0s. Michael deciphered tiny fragments that clearly decrypted as “Beelzebub the Magnificent”, “orders from BtheM”, and a sentence including a reference reading, “payment in full for work done” which was signed BtheM, followed by a bewildering translation of “Ha, ha, ha.”

               

Michael had had profitable and uncomfortable computer business—hacking business—with the Russian “Godfather” but had never run across anything like this. He had never heard of Beelzebub, the Magnificent, before the first A-P service news came out with their online, pre-print, reference to the American/European devil figure. He ran to Director Bortnikov and DCIA Norcroft with his finding.

               

The directors immediately realized they were on to something significant.

               

Bortnikov gave Michael Yvgenevich a direct order, “Dig deeper. Find something else in those e-mails. I am going to put a tap of the vory v zakone’s phone and all his communications. At this point I need to discuss the matter with President Putin, and I expect Director Norcroft to connect with President Willets. Good work. Now get some helper bees and find something we can work with.”

                

Half a dozen of the best hackers and cybercounter intelligence officers began to work feverishly. At 0200, Michael reported back.

              

“Directors, we have found only one other rather strange thing. There are multiple encrypted messages to and from and about “geniuses” working with linguistics. I looked up what an arcane study of foreign languages had to do with our area of interest. I am not exactly sure what is going on; but one thing is clear, the volume of communications among all our suspects is not at all ordinary. They are deeply involved with each other. Even the decrypted messages are spoken of in some sort of personal messaging code. The most common communicator is the US Navy, and many of the messages come from a computer in a naval facility referred to only as the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.

             

“Are you absolutely sure, Michael?” asked an obviously upset Sybil Norcroft.

               

“Absolutely, Director. We have found the street address for the naval observatory, which is Number 1 Observatory Circle, U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C. Its GPS coordinates are 38.9230°N 77.0654°W.”

           

Sybil turned pale, “Excuse me, Gentlemen, I have to contact my president again. In the meantime, Michael, find everything you can about linguistics and language study, especially the IP addresses used in the conversations you found.”

           

Michael nodded. Bortnikov smiled. And Sybil gritted her teeth.

           

Sybil left the room and stepped outside the building to enhance her chances of having a secure conversation with POTUS.

           

President Willets’ Oval Office secretary took the call.

           

“This is a secure line. Give me your credentials and clearance code.”

                

Sybil did so, and repeated her clearance: Top Secret TS/SCI code clearance, with access to sensitive compartmentalized information and “need-to-know” status

               

“And you need to talk to POTUS?”

               

“Immediately.”

               

“Is it an emergency?”

               

“Most definitely.”

               

The next voice Sybil heard was that of the president.

               

“I presume this is not a social call or one to convey good news, Sybil. What do you have?”

                

“The Russians have found the source—the center—of digital communication with and for Beelzebub.”

               

“That’s bad news all by itself.”

               

“It gets worse. The IP address has been traced to a single computer located in the basement of the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C.”

               

“Merciful heaven…the residence of the vice president of the United States…that naval observatory?”

               

“Yes, Mr. President--checked, rechecked, and confirmed. There is not a scintilla of doubt about that. Of course, at this point, we do not know who has been using the computer in the residence of VPOTUS.”

               

“As soon as we ring off, I will put into action a complete surveillance on VPOTUS and all of his communications. I will restrict his access. It will take a little doing not to spook him. The FBI will take charge of the investigation. You can step back away from him for now. You continue to monitor and to chase down the people he communicates with. Any indication of a relationship with our favorite public enemy number one?”

               

“We have. It’s skimpy for now; not enough to indict; but we have the best crooks in the world working on it. One oddity, besides seeing Beelzebub’s encrypted name is the presence of oblique references to ‘linguistics’. Apparently, that is something different from language study. News at eleven, Mr. President.”

               

“This goes no further than those of us with ‘need-to-know.’ It may be that the public will never learn about it. I can’t think of any greater blow than to learn that the number two officer in the United States is a monster.”

               

Michael Yvgenevich Petrovsky and his six co-horts worked through the night, partnering with their counterparts in DARPA and the FBI CRRU [Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit], and the Cyber Division’s Investigative Department. The implications, even beyond this specific case, were appreciated immediately: computer intrusion cases—counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and criminal—are cyber program priorities because of their potential national security nexus. Everyone recognized the dual needs for an all-out effort to unearth any pertinent evidence and to let the chips fall where they may. They also committed to an absolute pact of secrecy with only a small handful of vetted officers knowing the whole story…ever.

               

General information about the scholastic and pragmatic field of linguistics came in fairly quickly since it was public knowledge, and a field of masters and doctoral study in several major universities. The white hat hackers (as of the moment) assembled a comprehensive list of institutions around the world with recognized applied linguistics while Sybil and Alexander Bortnikov worked through the night to pare down the list to a workable few.

               

Although a large number of localities had been attacked by Beelzebub, the main countries targeted had been the US, Russia, the PRC, and England. They reasoned that Beelzebub—with all his delusions of grandiosity—would seek to work with and through major centers of applied linguistics education and companies that specialized in the use of that science commercially. They further limited the choices to areas that more digital traffic was being uncovered. Therefore, the first list included: the University of West Virginia in Morgantown; Stanford University in Stanford, California; Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut; Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts; University of Florida, in Gainesville, Florida; and NYU in New York City.

Outside the US, they narrowed the list of universities to Oxford and Cambridge in England; the Sorbonne, in Paris; the University of Bonn, Germany’s Center for European Integration Studies (ZEI) which provides future oriented research on unresolved issues of European integration and the global role of Europe, especially including a world recognized applied linguistics department; the American University in Cairo and Cairo University; Iran University of Science and Technology, King Abdulaziz University, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates University, Al Ein, UAE; and, following a Sybil hunch, Damascus University in Damascus, Syria.

The already overburdened hackers took a short nap then began the Herculean task of hacking the linguistics departments of every university on the short list; they accepted help from DARPA, INSCOM [the  US Army Intelligence and Security Command],  DCHC [DIA’s Defense Counterintelligence and Human Intelligence Center], DS/ICI/CI [US Diplomatic Security Service U.S. Department of State], ONCIX [Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive], and the Chinese Honkers—whom nobody trusted; so, their tasks were limited to nonsensitive questions.

A small army of intelligence agents from the pertinent US agencies, including the FBI, US-CERT [the US Computer Emergency Readiness Team] and the trusted British CERT-UK began an emergency collaboration on computer network defense involving the designated universities and companies and agreed to share everything learned to address the cyber threats and manage cyber incidents encountered as necessary. This collaboration brought in GCHQ [United Kingdom Government Communications Headquarters], and MI5 [Security Service].

Sybil preferred to work with Humint intelligence activities because it suited her penchant for following her hunches. She made a series of brief secure calls:

To Cairo SAC—”this is a secure line. No names. You recognize my voice. Drop everything else and get to the head of the department of applied linguistics at the American University. The questions are: Do you know or know of Beelzebub? Do you or your department do any business of any kind with anyone in the present American administration? Do you have links to the Muslim Brotherhood, and do they have links to Beelzebub: Money is no object. Play nice unless they balk, then do what must be done. Out.”

To Damascus SAC—”This a secure top-secret communication. Need anything ASAP about communications of government and intelligence officials regarding a person or organization named Beelzebub. Visit head of Damascus University Department of Applied Linguistics. Need anything about communication, business, or advising same person. You have covert links to AQI, AI, and an assortment of similar sorts of people. Call in your markers and do it quickly. Out.”

To Gainesville SAC FBI—”Per DFBI this is top-secret secure communication. Need all info on applied linguistics transmissions between or involving a person or entity called Beelzebub. Anything about business, confidential or personal communications, etc. Money is no object. Out.”

To Morgantown Chief of Police—”Hello, Chief. I hope you recognize my voice. Please, no names. We are tracking Beelzebub and need your help. Please get to University of West Virginia Department of Applied Linguistics and learn everything you can as fast as you can. Get back to me ASAP, even if the news is negative. Thanks.”

After a two-hour power nap, Sybil herself met her pilot at the Moscow Domodedovo Airport and boarded the turboprop Antonov AH-32 to begin a whirlwind personal quest.

Carl Douglass

Neurosurgeon turned Author who writes with Gripping Realism

Author Masterminds Charter Member