Deception Point Page 81

â€Å"As you know,† the CIA chief went on, his tone honing, â€Å"all U.S. government elements who manage delicate insight data are administered by severe guidelines of mystery military, CIA, NSA, NRO-every one of them must submit to rigid laws with respect to the disguise of the information they gather and the advancements they create. I ask all of you, once more, why NASA-the organization presently creating the biggest segment of front line aviation, imaging, flight, programming, observation, and telecom advances utilized by the military and insight network exists outside this umbrella of secrecy.† The President hurled a profound moan. The proposition was clear. Rebuild NASA to turn out to be a piece of the U.S. military insight network. Albeit comparable restructurings had occurred with different organizations previously, Herney would not engage setting NASA under the sponsorship of the Pentagon, the CIA, the NRO, or some other military order. The National Security Council was beginning to fragment on the issue, many favoring the insight network. Lawrence Ekstrom never looked satisfied at these gatherings, and this was no exemption. He shot a bitter glare toward the CIA chief. â€Å"At the danger of rehashing myself, sir, the advances NASA creates are for nonmilitary, scholastic applications. In the event that your knowledge network needs to turn one of our space telescopes around and see China, that is your choice.† The CIA executive appeared as though he was going to bubble over. Pickering grabbed his attention and stepped in. â€Å"Larry,† he stated, cautious to keep an even tone, â€Å"every year NASA bows before Congress and asks for cash. You're running activities with excessively small financing, and you're following through on the cost in bombed missions. In the event that we join NASA into the insight network, NASA will no longer need to approach Congress for help. You would be supported by the dark spending plan at essentially more significant levels. It's a success win. NASA will have the cash it needs to run itself appropriately, and the insight network will have genuine feelings of serenity that NASA advances are protected.† Ekstrom shook his head. â€Å"On guideline, I can't embrace painting NASA with that brush. NASA is about space science; we don't have anything to do with national security.† The CIA chief stood up, something never done when the President was situated. No one halted him. He glared down at the manager of NASA. â€Å"Are you disclosing to me you think science has nothing to do with national security? Larry, they are equal, for the wellbeing of God! It is just this current nation's logical and innovative edge that keeps us secure, and regardless, NASA is having a greater and greater impact in building up those advances. Tragically, your office releases like a sifter and has demonstrated over and over that its security is a liability!† The room fell quiet. Presently the director of NASA stood up and stared at his aggressor. â€Å"So you propose locking twenty thousand NASA researchers in impermeable military labs and making them work for you? Do you truly believe NASA's most up to date space telescopes would have been considered had it not been for our researchers' very own craving to see further into space? NASA makes surprising forward leaps for one explanation just our workers need to comprehend the universe all the more profoundly. They are a network of visionaries who grew up gazing at brilliant skies and asking themselves what was up there. Energy and interest are what drive NASA's development, not the guarantee of military superiority.† Pickering made a sound as if to speak, talking delicately, attempting to bring down the temperatures around the table. â€Å"Larry, I'm sure the chief isn't looking at enrolling NASA researchers to manufacture military satellites. Your NASA statement of purpose would not change. NASA would carry on the same old thing, aside from you would have expanded subsidizing and expanded security.† Pickering went now to the President. â€Å"Security is costly. Everybody in this room unquestionably understands that NASA's security spills are a consequence of underfunding. NASA needs to gloat, cut corners on safety efforts, run joint tasks with different nations so they can share the sticker price. I am suggesting that NASA remain the sublime, logical, nonmilitary substance it presently is, yet with a greater financial plan, and some discretion.† A few individuals from the security gathering gestured in calm understanding. President Herney stood gradually, gazing legitimately at William Pickering, unmistakably not in any way delighted with the way Pickering had quite recently dominated. â€Å"Bill, let me ask you this: NASA is planning to go to Mars in the following decade. By what means will the insight network feel about spending a robust part of the dark spending running a strategic Mars-a crucial has no quick national security benefits?† â€Å"NASA will have the option to do as they please.† â€Å"Bullshit,† Herney answered straight. Everybody's eyes shot up. President Herney only here and there utilized obscenity. â€Å"If there is one thing I've learned as president,† Herney proclaimed, â€Å"it's that the individuals who control the dollars control the heading. I won't put NASA's satchel strings in the hands of the individuals who don't share the goals for which the office was established. I can just envision how much unadulterated science would complete the military choosing which NASA missions are viable.† Herney's eyes examined the room. Gradually, intentionally, he restored his inflexible look to William Pickering. â€Å"Bill,† Herney murmured, â€Å"your dismay that NASA is occupied with joint undertakings with outside space organizations is horrendously childish. At any rate somebody is working usefully with the Chinese and Russians. Tranquility on this planet won't be fashioned by military quality. It will be manufactured by the individuals who meet up regardless of their administrations' disparities. In the event that you ask me, NASA's joint missions accomplish more to advance national security than any billion-dollar spy satellite, and with one serious part better trust in the future.† Pickering felt an outrage welling profound inside him. How dare a legislator speak condescendingly to me along these lines! Herney's optimism played fine in a meeting room, yet in reality, it got individuals executed. â€Å"Bill,† Marjorie Tench interfered, as though detecting Pickering was going to detonate, â€Å"we realize you lost a kid. We realize this is an individual issue for you.† Pickering heard only haughtiness in her tone. â€Å"But please remember,† Tench stated, â€Å"that the White House is as of now keeping down a conduit of financial specialists who need us to open space to the private segment. On the off chance that you ask me, for every one of its slip-ups, NASA has been a serious companion to the intel network. All of you may very well need to check your blessings.† A thunder strip on the shoulder of the interstate shocked Pickering's psyche back to the present. His exit was coming up. As he moved toward the exit for D.C., he passed a grisly deer lying dead by the roadside. He felt an odd hesitation†¦ however he continued driving. He had a meeting to keep. 96 The Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial is perhaps the biggest commemoration in the country. With a recreation center, cascades, sculpture, niches, and bowl, the remembrance is partitioned into four open air exhibitions, one for every one of FDR's terms in office. A mile from the remembrance, a solitary Kiowa Warrior drifted in, high over the city, its running lights darkened. In a town gloating the same number of VIPs and media groups as D.C., helicopters in the skies were as normal as flying creatures flying south. Delta-One realized that as long as he remained well outside what was known as â€Å"the dome†-an air pocket of ensured airspace around the White House-he should draw little consideration. They would not be here long. The Kiowa was at twenty-one hundred feet when it eased back adjoining, yet not legitimately finished, the obscured FDR Memorial. Delta-One floated, checking his position. He looked to one side, where Delta-Two was keeping an eye on the night vision adaptive review framework. The video feed demonstrated a greenish picture of the passage drive of the remembrance. The territory was abandoned.