Seven Days in September

By Brett Moss

Seven Days in September is the story of the night of Sept. 11, 2012, and the following days - better known as the night of the incident in Benghazi, Libya. It is told from the perspective of Valerie "Val" Plum, the CIA liaison to the White House. Readers will be taken inside the White House and the State Department as the night unfolds and life-affecting decisions are made. Follow the actions of Pres. Barack Obama, Valerie Jarrett, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The story continues over the subsequent six days as a narrative is decided upon while participants desperately struggle to shift blame onto anyone else but themselves.
Seven Days in September is the first installment of Val Plum's memoirs of her three decades of service in the CIA. In the great tradition of fictional memoirs, Valerie Plum is a fictional character created by author Brett Moss.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Brett Moss
• Release date: Dec 14, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310971488

Brett Moss

Valerie "Val" Plum, also known as "America's Top Spy," has spent almost three decades with the Central Intelligence Agency, in the field and in Washington. She has had access to the highest level of governments worldwide and is ready to tell all (CIA censors approving, of course). She is a graduate of Cornell and lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with her husband, Joseph Schmilson. They do not have children, a dog, a cat or a pet of any kind. They have no interesting hobbies either.Brett Moss is an inconsequential writer living in Arlington, Virginia, seeking consequence.

Book preview

Seven Days in September

From the Memoirs of America's Top Spy

By Valerie Plum

with Brett Moss

Published by Kirby Sterling Publishing - Distributed by Smashwords

Copyright 2014Brett Moss

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property ofthe author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or noncommercialpurposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own or herepurchase an additional copy for each recipient. Thank you for your support.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Bad Day at Bengahzi

Chapter 2 In the Heat of the Night

Chapter 3 Heart of Darkness

Chapter 4 One Ringie Dingie, Two Ringie Dingie

Chapter 5 Video Killed the Benghazi Four

Chapter 6 Funeral for a Friend

Chapter 7 A Night at the HOA

Chapter 1 Bad Day at Benghazi

The following takes place between Sept. 11, 2012 and Sept. 17, 2012.

It wasn't a dark and stormy night but a nice, pretty fall day in Washington, D.C., just like the fateful day of Sept. 11, 2001, eleven years earlier.

The leaves hadn't started to change inside the Beltway but the maples had a tinge of color out in the outer ' burbs. The Washington, D.C. tourist season was over so it was possible to navigate the area without bumping into the chunky, overweight, lost and clueless proles that clogged the nation's capital during the spring and summer months. I say proles with the deepest of respect for those not lucky enough to live in Washington or one of the leading cities on the coasts (and Chicago).

Val Plum's the name, spying's the game. That's right, I'm Valerie Plum, BA ('83) Cornell. Codename - Val 007. Proclaimed America's Top Spy by such arbiters as The Washington Post, New York Times, major newsmagazines, websites and cable news channels along with leading politicians and intelligence experts such as Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz, Chris Matthews, et al.

Currently I'm the Central Intelligence Agency Liaison to the White House.

That's right Mr. and Ms. America and Significant Other America and Life Partner America, I get to hang out almost every day with Pres. Barack H. Obama and his top advisers, along with his posse, the Too Cool for School Kids Gang.

I know you envy me with every fiber of your body - often being in the same room with our history-making president - The One, who made the seas stop rising and the temperatures stop rising and the Earth heal itself. The post-racial president who never judges anyone by the color of their skin but only the content of their character.

Yes, sometimes I have to stop, take a deep breath and pinch myself at my situation.

My job is a pretty important job.

And even though there is the National Security Council, of which the CIA is part and parcel of, the Company, as we like to call it, still insists upon having another adviser to protect its turf… er… provide immediate and unfiltered intelligence to the president and his advisers.

Naturally, Valerie Jarrett… er… Pres. Obama appreciates all these sources of information. I know he insists that he's the best international affairs adviser he has but, between you and me, he needs us. Wink.

I had just returned to my broom-closet-sized office, space is tight at the White House and the West Wing (that's right, baby, just like the TV show!). I had been out on a lateish lunch at Brasserie Beck over on K Street with Ariana Kane, associate director, Legislative Affairs at the Export-Import Bank. I knew her from the CIA, before she went to work for the Export-Import Bank. She was now working with Congress to prevent attempts by extremist Republicans to shut the Ex-Im (as it's known in Washington) down. She was originally from Ohio State but had picked up a Masters in Public Policy at Georgetown while at the CIA.

Did you know that most government agencies will pick up your grad school tab while you work for them? It doesn't even have to be in a related field! The Washington area schools - Georgetown, George Washington University (AKA GW), Johns Hopkins has a big Washington operation, American, Howard, George Mason, Catholic and the University of Maryland all have large grad schools geared towards the government worker and the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech are trying to horn-in on the action. Isn't our government great and kind!?!

Oh, BTW, don't worry, dear reader, Ariana's not trying to infiltrate the Export-Import Bank or bend it to the CIA's will.

At least I don't think she is. She really believes in its mission of government-controlled choosing of winners and losers in the import/export game and helping out small companies that can't get private bank help in exporting or importing things. I'm always amazed that private banks aren't willing to help companies like Boeing, McDonald's and General Electric (Wait a minute, doesn't GE have its own bank? And it won't give to itself? This issue is pretty complicated).

Anyway, I'm pretty sure that Ariana is working for Ex-Im on the up and up (though it wouldn't be the first time that I wasn't informed when someone in the government was working for the Company and I didn't know about it…).

But back to the story… Brasserie Beck was awesome as usual. Okay, I'll grant you that it's a little on the expensive side. The $15 salads push the wallet but the famed mussel bar is worth the price and $20+ entrees aren't so bad. The cheese selection can't be beat. Naturally, we started with The One's favorite, a Belgian Endive salad (plus we deviated with a grilled octopus side). My Gravlax Tartine sandwich was well worth the price and I'm sure Ariana loved her grilled salmon. Of course, being a Belgian-themed eatery, the beer selection was out of this world - including Belgian and local brews. Proprietor Robert Weidmaier even has his own brew. Normally I'm a wine drinker but thanks to my experience in Belgium (you'll have to read my full memoirs for that exciting adventure!), I know that the Belgians are the unappreciated masters of brewing, so a little quaffing wouldn't harm the palate. I picked a La Chouffe Belgian Golden, a strong pale ale (and I love the red-hatted gnome on the label!). Ariana decided to test out Belgium's famed Trappist monk brewing heritage with a Rochefort 10, a dark and fruity strong brew. Belgian beers tend to have a bit more alcohol than American beers, if you know what I mean. Owner and head chef Weidmaier has put together a great menu. How often do you get Belgian food? With the dollar-euro conversion rate it should be more expensive!

So back at the White House, I had also just finished the painful negotiations of arranging White House tennis court reservations for myself and Ariana, next Tuesday. Here's a cool, inside-the-White House nugget of information - you get to keep your balls from the White House tennis court. One wag said many years ago, It's the only place in the White House where you get to keep your balls. Ha-ha!

Of course now the evil extremist Republican/Tea Party obstructionists had taken to saying, It's the only place in the White House that has any balls. Boo! They didn't say that about Bush! The racists.

Or the White House basketball court, known as the Dr. Martin Luther King Court. Or the White House bowling alley, recently renamed with great ceremony, the Dr. Martin Luther King Lanes. The first bowling lanes in Washington to be named after an African-American, noted The One in his dedication.

Or the White House putting green (which is not currently named after anyone but there were rumors that it would be renamed in Dr. King's honor at a future moment of political appropriateness).

See how selective the judgment of those extremist Republicans is. Sometimes they'll add their War on Women angle and say that it's the only place in the White House, other than Valerie Jarrett's panties, that has any balls. Racists and sexists!

Anyway, as I was saying, before I was distracted, which reminds me, gotta get the Ritalin prescription picked up, I keep forgetting that.

Oh, yeah, back to the issue of the moment, I was grumbling about getting Court 2, which hasn't been resurfaced this year and faces the sun in the afternoon when someone called from the CIA Director's office back at Langley…

Plum, what's up there? the voice of Frank Polston cracked.

I'm trying to deal for a better court, I replied.

Are you in traffic court again? Assistant Deputy Supervisor Polston snapped.

No! I replied. That's not for weeks…

Plum! Polston rudely cut me off. What's the latest on Benghazi?

Isn't he dead? I began to stutter. I had never been a fan of the man, though his turn as Cosmo Vittelli in The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, despite the implicit racism of the title and the plot, was touching in that gritty way that Ben Gazzara and director John Cassavetes perfected. Maybe Joe and I should get that on Netflix tonight? You know Netflix is like the greatest thing invented, especially the streaming op…

Plum! Are you still there? the barking voice on the other end queried.

Yes, here, doing the country's work! referring to my very important job. I tell you, sometimes I wonder about the people I work with.

What's up with Benghazi? Our ground sources say the consulate is under attack, he whined.

Oh, that's different, I acknowledged.

What? Polston yelled.

Oh, I have what you have but I was just about to head over to the NSC's room for the latest, I said, managing to save that one. I'll have to get back to you on that, I'm late. I hung up the phone.

Plum, don't hang… the tiny disembodied voice squawked helplessly.

Benghazi? That's in Libya. What was going on there? I don't remember reading anything about it in my briefing this morning. Did I read the morning briefing? I couldn't recall. The One, our glorious and superintelligent and eloquent president, rarely took briefings anymore. He already knows what we're going to tell him, he tells me and the Pentagon adviser what's going to happen. Did I mention he is eloquent?

Dang, this means my nap had to be cancelled. And no, it's not what you think, dear reader. Studies have shown that napping at work makes people more productive during the couple of hours they are fully awake.

Guess I was going to have to put my CIA-trained, sharply-honed spy skills to work and surreptitiously ferret out the story of what was happening in Benghazi.

Or I could turn on CNN.

I'm really thirsty, dear reader. Strong beer always does that to me…

* * *

I received an email alert that there was going to be a meeting in the Situation Room. Perhaps it had something to do with the rumored Benghazi… uh… what was it? Was it a crisis? An incident? A kerfuffle? Maybe it was all a Republican invention. They were constantly inventing scandals to trip up The One. Usually the mainstream media ignored the Republicans, unless they were the target of the trouble.

I guess I'd find out when I got to the Situation Room.

For some reason I found myself mumble-humming Go Your Own Way on the way down to the meeting. If I could, baby, I'd give you my world… Open up, everything's waiting for you… You can go your own way… You can call it another lonely day…

Listening to the oldies station again are we? chirped one of the snot-nosed little National Security Council git staffers, Geneva Dworkin, a twenty-something grad of Middlebury College, as I entered the corridor outside the Situation Room. English majors think they know everything. She had also spent some time at Oxford. Perhaps that is where she developed her British syntax.

At this point Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had arrived for their weekly meeting with Valerie Jarrett… er… The One and others.

It was fortuitous that they had arrived when they did. This was looking like a big effin' deal, as Joe Biden might say. He'd begun using the F word frequently after the press made such a big deal of him using it when Obamacare passed. He seemed to take it as a mark of recognition. That's a big fuckin' wart, he clucked the other day pointing at Geneva.

This is a big fuckin' deal, Biden predictably chortled as he entered the room with Valerie Jarrett and The One, along with the presidential posse - Senior Advisor David Plouffe and Director of Communications Dan Pfeiffer, and some pet underlings. White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew was not around. He usually avoided these types of meeting - substance meetings.

It really is, the Veep agreed with himself, as he was wont to do.

Mr. President, Secretary of Defense Panetta began immediately cutting to the chase without the usual formalities and Hail to The One salutes. We've tasked a drone that was surveiling terrorist camps in eastern Libya, to Benghazi. It should arrive in a few hours and we can get a direct video feed then, the Secretary of Defense explained. Are we in contact with the ambassador? I believe he is in Benghazi today.

Everyone kind of looked at everyone else.

We're waiting for the State Department to brief us, Jarrett answered eventually.

Ah, I see, Panetta semi-groaned. Has anyone contacted the Libyans?

Everyone kind of looked at everyone else.

We're waiting for the State Department to brief us, Jarrett answered eventually.

Okay… Well, we have a number of military assets in the region though by agreement with the Libyan authorities we've had to keep our in-country numbers unadvisedly low and not as well-armed as we'd like. The CIA has some assets available and State's Diplomatic Corps security forces in Tripoli should be enough to beat back an unorganized mob. They should be ordered to embark immediately though we need to leave sufficient forces behind in Tripoli in case this is just the first of a series of coordinated attacks. We'll need to get eyes on the scene before we can better ascertain further options, Panetta concluded.

Thank you for that, Mr. Secretary, but there's no need to jump the gun, The One chuckled at his witticism. We joined in chuckling to bring the tension down, though Panetta maintained his dour face. This is clearly just spillover from what's been happening in Cairo and other cities. It's the Arab Spring, which, I guess, at this point is approaching the Arab Summer or maybe Arab Fall. They're just blowing off some steam, kind of like our kids do at Spring Break, The One explained calmly to the Secretary of Defense, who was obviously eager to turn the military loose on those poor, innocent, harmless protesters. Once again, The One had a better grip on the situation than his so-called advisers.

Perhaps, so Mr. President, but it might be wise to be prepared just in case things get out of hand. It is the anniversary of 9/11, Panetta said refusing to take the wise counsel of The One.

It is? Oh. Well, nevermind that, Mr. Secretary, I'm sure they use an Islamic calendar in Libya so it would be a different day, The One enlightened the Sec. Def. Indeed, enlightened us all. He truly was, as many claimed, The Lightbringer.

I don't think the type of calendar matters, Panetta protested but The One ignored him.

You know, we need to move on from 9/11, if we are to forge a new world relationship with those that we don't always agree with. I'm sure the people of Libya share our disgust over the perversion of Islam that was so-called '9/11,' and now that I have killed bin Laden, they just want to get on with their lives without any further distractions, as we all do, except for those in this country who can't let 9/11 go. However, I think we can give a people new to democracy a little leeway. I'm sure those Founding Fathers that you so worship protested at a few embassies after 1776. Let's give the Libyan people the benefit of the doubt. They'll probably just tear down the American flag and raise the black banner of al Qaeda like they did in Cairo the other day and then they'll go away peacefully like our own Occupy Wall Street movement does so often, The One stated authoritatively. Though, of course, this has nothing to do with terrorism, especially al Qaeda, which I have defeated, he then reminded us.

I remind the president that those protesters only left after the embassy staff retreated to safe rooms and upon the arrival of Egyptian riot police, the SecDef had the gall to talk back.

A needlessly provocative act I should add. Valerie, you need to remind the Egyptian authorities to play nice or I'll 'Mubarak' them too. They serve at our pleasure and should not disappoint us… The One royally and decisively ordered. I can't keep repairing the damage that they do. We had to do a lot of apologizing to get the Arab street back on our side and trusting us. We have a very hard time counteracting the influence of those imams. It was hard being The One - having to make up for everyone else's mistakes. Didn't the Cairo embassy say one of those imams with the Egyptian version of the 'Today Show' was showing some anti-Islam video they said was made by Americans? The One then inquired.

I think it was that one from that nutty pastor in Florida. You remember, the one that barbecued a Koran, answered Denis McDonough, deputy national security adviser. Those videos are truly abhorrent and have offended so many people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike - in our country and around the world.

Wow! I haven't seen them, yet, Plouffe said.

Me neither, Pfeiffer added. Are they really bad?

Have you seen them? asked McDonough's boss, Tom Donilon.

Well, not technically, McDonough answered. But I hear they are really mean and hateful.

Where do they come up with that stuff? Plouffe asked.

YouTube mostly, was the answer from McDonough. But I'm sure they have something from Fox News so I can certainly understand why they'd be offended and riot.

Why can't they just watch funny animal videos like everyone else? asked Geneva, with a straight face. There was some laughter in the room.

Can't we get that stuff banned from YouTube? Why don't they take it down? queried Ethan Jackson, another NSC toddler. I must be getting old, he looked barely old enough to shave. He had arrived at the NSC from Stanford and George Washington University. He had a Master's degree in Global Gender Policy from the latter. Like Geneva, I think he had gained his entré by working for The One's presidential campaign; probably with Obama Youth.

The SecDef cleared his voice, Mr. President, the videos aren't the problem. People that are agitated to violence by such videos are going to be easily manipulated by other things.

I don't want any stereotyping here, Leon, the president warned.

* * *

I was back to my cubby hole. Where was that bottle of Benzedrine? I needed something to clear the beer haze. I also needed to confer with Langley.

Before I thought about it, Nancy Corcoran-Sona answered. Oh, for Pete's sake, not now… Dear reader, I'm a big supporter of Affirmative Action but there are times when the adults really need to be left alone to