“So if China was to attack us, do you think that our military would be able to hold them off?”
The man shifted in his seat and said, “I mean… I would guess… yeah. I think so, probably.”
Lena said, “Okay. We as a group are going to get very smart very quickly on some of the data that might help us answer this question. Many of you are asking yourselves right now, can China beat us? But we don’t want you to think of it like that. We want you to think of it like this. How can China beat us? Assume that they can. Uncover the path they must take. Only then can we really prepare our defense. It is thinking like this that has kept us safe from another 9/11 for so many years. Now, you each will get familiar with China’s capabilities and use your collective expertise to identify America’s weaknesses. There will be a different set of experts that will create the defensive response plan based on our learnings. That will be weeks after we are finished, and most of you will not be involved. For us, these next few weeks are about figuring out the most effective strategies and tactics that China could use to make war on the US. Does that make sense?”
“Yes ma’am,” said the military officer.
Lena continued, “After September eleventh, we created a Red Cell designed to prevent another major terrorist attack. Typically, the opposing force in a military exercise is red and the allied force is blue. A cell, for those of you who are unfamiliar, is the unit where plans are made. Hence, the Red Cell is used to create the enemy’s plans. After September eleventh, we used this organization to help us think outside the box and hypothesize what our enemies might do. At that time, it was terrorist attacks that we were focused on. It helped us tremendously in identifying what defensive mechanisms needed to be strengthened, and what targets had no adequate defense in place.”
She stood looking at the group. The audience was captivated.
“Each of you was carefully selected for having a great combination of experience in fields that will likely be very important to these plans. But you have also been selected for another very important reason. You can be trusted. Or more accurately, most of you have bosses that can be trusted. Each of you was handpicked by the person who sent you here. This group has not been compromised. We put this operation together as a way to prepare now while another op is underway to root out Chinese spies that have infiltrated us. More on that momentarily. The consultants in this Red Cell need to figure out what we think we could be up against. What plans are already in motion? Some of you know bits and pieces that will inform this. What do we think the Chinese could do? The rest will be hypothesis. What should their targets be and how would they attack them? Each of us knows something that will likely prove crucial. It’s up to us to work efficiently so that we are well prepared for what’s to come. ”
David listened to Lena speak and his doubts began to recede. It was all starting to make sense. Didn’t In-Q-Tel constantly worry about the Chinese hacking their systems? There were cyberattacks going on back and forth between the East and West every day. It was a modern cold war. She was an excellent speaker. The more he listened to her, the more a war with China seemed realistic. Either that or Lena was a remarkable liar.
Lena said, “We’ll begin sharing out tonight after dinner. We want to know what you all think are the biggest weaknesses in our defense. When you look at 9/11 and at Pearl Harbor, our nation was not prepared. We did not see it coming because we had been conditioned not to look in the right places. Attacks like those are what we are here to prevent. We are here to think of all the different ways a foreign power might try to do serious harm to our nation. Some of you have extensive knowledge of things like nuclear power plants and the electrical grid. Some of you understand very different things like how the US populace might respond to propaganda or psychological operations.”
The classroom collectively raised their eyebrows at that one.
“Oh yes… that’s right. We won’t just be looking at a one-time kinetic attack. This isn’t a hit-and-run that we’re planning for. We’ll also be looking at ways that China might be able to invade us and successfully occupy our nation. That will be week three. What would they do? How would they go about it? Shock and awe? Win hearts and minds? We will conduct psychological operations planning. We don’t want the defense team that looks at our work to just build a big moat with nothing behind it. You must think of what China should do to control the castle once inside the walls. Only then will our defense planners be able to cover our castle grounds with spikes.”
There was commotion in the room.
“Many of you doubt our reasons for concern. You may believe that China could be planning an attack. But you are saying to yourself, everyone knows that the US is the mightiest country in the world, with the greatest military in the world. I ask you to please hold those assumptions in check while we’re here. We have a duty to our country to suspend disbelief and to think of new and different ways that China could overcome our advantages. We must identify all of our nation’s vulnerabilities and commit ourselves to this mindset of offensive planning against the United States. This is how we will truly help our defensive planners — by giving them an effective blueprint for a Chinese invasion.”
There were nods of understanding in the audience. In David’s office life, most meetings involved tables of people with laptops open and cell phones out. He was struck by the level of undivided attention that Lena commanded when she spoke. Granted, there were no computers or phones in anyone’s possession. But it was more than that. Between her charisma and confidence, she controlled the eyes of everyone in the room. Aside from her speech, the only sound was the thrum of the air conditioning coming through the floor vents.
She said, “This threat requires urgent action and new ideas. We can’t use the same lessons learned in the sessions that were held a decade ago when we were trying to protect against another September eleventh, because we are no longer trying to protect against terrorists, but against the country with the largest economy and military on the planet.”
The room became quiet. David could sense that reality was setting in for the others in the classroom.
“A few weeks ago we lost contact with one of our assets in Shanghai. Before that happened, he sent me a message that revealed two important things. The most important was what we have already discussed. China is planning to attack the United States. Very few in the Chinese leadership are aware of this plan. They are dedicated to keeping it secret. But rest assured, the decision makers that matter are very aware. The second big item that our Chinese asset revealed is the reason you all are here, instead of a team from the Pentagon doing this in the Pentagon. We as a country have been infiltrated by the Chinese intelligence community. Badly. And they have been actively deepening this penetration. The Chinese have spies feeding them information from inside just about every key government organization. Sleepers have been activated. New operatives have been inserted. They are making moves to get ready for a war.”
David heard rumbles from around the room.
“There is a bit of a cat-and-mouse game going on right now. There is just a small team assigned to this project. We are keeping this operation quiet, even from our own agencies, while we figure out whom we can trust. At the same time, we know that we have to plan our defense. While we know that the Chinese are planning the attack and we know some of their objectives, we don’t know exactly how they intend to do it. We know a little, but not nearly enough. That’s where you come in. This isn’t just a regular consulting project. We want you to be ruthless and calculating as you think of what they might do. We will provide you with what we have uncovered as their probable objectives. But before our man was killed… and yes, he was killed…”