National Counterterrorism Center, McLean, Virginia
Director Bob Bayer swept his gaze across the heavy-hitters seated around the oval table in the NCTC’s secure conference room. The emergency meeting had drawn all the big guns he’d invited and marked the first time heads of all the various agencies involved in counterterrorism efforts had assembled in one place to discuss one topic. It was hard for anyone, no matter what rank or attitude, to ignore a presidential directive that essentially said get with the program or find another job.
Bayer owed that bureaucracy-busting order to Home-land Security Director Jerry Goodall, who had convinced the President to step on some delicate toes and kick the slats out from under a few balky fiefdoms. As a result, Bayer had all the major players in one
