Dick Couch: Out of the Ashes

“They say that people come to work and, more importantly, keep coming to work at the same place for three reasons: for autonomy, for mastery, and for a sense of purpose. I think you would all agree that no organization in government has more autonomy than Op-Center, and as you’ve all just demonstrated, along with our JSOC team, you all are masters at your craft.” He paused for a moment. “Now, with this success behind us, I hope you all feel, and feel deeply, a sense of accomplishment and purpose. No one else could have done what you all have just done. Thank you and well done.”

With that, Chase Williams came to attention, raised his right hand, and rendered a crisp salute.

The staff broke out in spontaneous applause. Williams glanced over his shoulder to where Anne Sullivan had stepped back behind the bar.

“Ms. Sullivan, would you like to add anything?”

“Yes, sir, I would.” She raised her voice to be heard and said, “The bar is still open, so why are all these cowboys just standing there?”

More applause, this time for Sullivan, as the staff surged toward the bar.

The predawn silence was broken as the first Tomahawk missile emerged from Normandy ’s bank of vertical launchers. Dozens more came out of the launchers of the other cruisers, destroyers, and submarines steaming with the Truman and Vinson carrier strike groups. The first wave of these precision missiles targeted the underground bunkers where the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy stored their mines near the Islamic Republic of Iran naval bases at Bandar Beheshti, Bandar Abbas, and Jask.

The second wave of Tomahawks, launched only minutes after the first, headed toward the railways and roads connecting these bunkers to mine assembly area buildings in the port areas. They also hit the buildings themselves, large structures where the batteries, sensors, and firing circuits of the most sophisticated mines were stored and where the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy made the final assembly of their mines before loading them on the nondescript dhows that planted them. The Tomahawks also hit the roads leading from the assembly buildings to the port areas as well as the docks where satellite imagery had shown mines being loaded onto dhows.

Immediately after these two waves of strikes, analysts at the CENTCOM Command Center at Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, scrutinized imagery from a variety of sensors to determine battle damage assessment of the targets singled out for attack. They then compiled a short list of targets for reattack. Ninety minutes later, a third and final wave of Tomahawks roared from their launchers and finished the job. Iran’s mine inventory and mine-laying capability had been destroyed.

The command center at Op-Center was normally manned by three-to-five watchstanders in the daytime and two in the evening. More staff could be called in if events or current intelligence warranted. Chase Williams had just turned in when his watch captain called him at the Watergate.

“Sir, turn on CNN, and I think you’ll want to get in here right away.”

The early morning news shows were just beginning their broadcasts when the announcement intoned, “We interrupt this broadcast to bring you an important address from the president of the United States.”

Wyatt Midkiff sat behind his desk in the Oval Office with a single sheet of paper in his hand. He had finally given the order Trevor Harward had urged him to give. He had no regrets, but he did not know what would happen next.

“My fellow Americans. Early this morning, at my direction, United States Navy ships conducted a coordinated attack on mine bunkers, mine assembly areas, and mine transport railways and roads near several naval bases of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy. These attacks were in retaliation for the Iranian navy mining the Strait of Hormuz in contravention to all norms of international law and freedom of navigation. Iran has long maintained they could and would close this important waterway should they choose to do so. They recently demonstrated that intent. While they may still have that intention, they no longer have the means to do so.

“The Iranian navy and their associated Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy forces were responsible for these mining operations, and we concentrated our attacks specifically — and surgically — on this mine-laying capability. We regret any unintended harm done to the long-suffering people of Iran as collateral damage from these attacks and will work with the International Red Cross and the Red Crescent organizations to provide relief and medical supplies to those civilian victims of these attacks.

“I congratulate our brave Navy men and women on this successful operation. May God bless the men and women of our armed forces and may God bless the United States of America.”

With that, the camera faded out in the Oval Office, and on all the networks, the talking heads took over. As U.S. networks were broadcasting the president’s address, Al Jazeera was broadcasting live video of grieving and weeping Iranian adults carrying horribly burned and mangled children to Bandar Abbas’s Khalij e Fars hospital.

Chase Williams reached Op-Center thirty-five minutes after being called by his watch team. Other senior staff soon followed. After a summary briefing by his watch captain, he had asked to not be disturbed while he kept up with the news on the multiple nets he monitored. By noon he was ready. He asked his N2 and N3 come to his office.

“You wanted to see us, boss?” Brian Dawson asked as he stood in the doorway of Williams’s office.

“Brian, Roger, come in and give me an assessment.”

With that, his intelligence director and operations director repeated much of what he already knew. They also added their personal appraisal of the strike and what it meant going forward. Their assessment was not unlike his own.

“All right. Thank you, both.”

“Also, boss,” McCord replied, “as we briefed you two weeks ago, Aaron and his team have been running their anticipatory intelligence looking for what Iran might do. Now that we’ve attacked Iran he’s going to focus in even tighter on communications coming out of the Iranian military command and even the Niavaran Palace. The algorithms he’s run so far suggest Iran is going to retaliate. We’re just not sure where yet.”

“Got it, Roger, thanks. Keep the press on. Brian, let’s ensure the command center is manned appropriately to monitor the situation. Other than North Korea, Iran’s probably the most unpredictable nation on the planet. Like both of you, I don’t think Iran can let this go without a response. We need to be prepared for just about anything.”

“Got it, boss.”

Turning to his intelligence director, Williams continued.

“Roger, several weeks ago we had a conversation about having your Geek Tank start to look at bit more inward, more domestically. That got overtaken by events. I think we need to ramp that up immediately, don’t you agree?”

“Sure do.”

“OK, fellas, we’ve a nation to protect. Let’s get to it.”

In the Niavaran Palace, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Hosseini Khamenei had spent the morning getting reports from his naval commanders about the damage done to Iran’s mine bunkers and buildings as well as to the port areas of the three Iranian naval bases. Other advisors briefed him regarding casualties to Iranian citizens. One of his staff had a rebroadcast of the American president’s address earlier that day piped into Khamenei’s office. Nothing was lost in the dubbed translation. He watched it without comment and seemingly without emotion.