Free The Leviathan Effect by James Lilliefors Page B

efforts that had been made to track the source or sources of both the email threats and the geo-physical events. His report lasted just over nine minutes, mostly repeating what she’d been told earlier. Easton then explained how the United States had responded quickly and diligently to each of the natural disasters, extending aid to the devastated countries. Two former US presidents had established a relief fund to assist the ravaged Bay of Bengal region.
    Blaine nodded periodically, trying to be diplomatic, although Easton’s presentation rubbed her wrong. Finally, he straightened his notes and sat back, elbows on the arms of the chair.
    “Questions?”
    “A few, actually,” she said, “although this is probably territory you’ve already covered. So, please, if you’ll just indulge me.” The President blinked his assent, waiting. “The first, I suppose, is an obvious one: how could things have gotten to this point without our intelligence services picking up what was happening?”
    President Hall exchanged a look with DeVries, then with Easton. “Harold?”
    “Priorities,” DeVries said. “As you noted earlier, Cate, Russia and China have increasingly devoted time and financial resources to this branch of research. We simply haven’t considered it a national priority.”
    The President lifted his right hand, a motion that reminded her of a conductor readying the orchestra to come in. “Cate, do you know how many countries have landed a man on the moon?”
    Blaine studied the President’s face, his warm brown eyes, wondering what he was getting at. “We’re the only one, aren’t we?”
    “That’s right. Twelve times. Twelve men have walked on the moon, all between the years 1969 and 1973. Why? Because we decided to make it a national priority. After Kennedy’s speech in 1961, we pulled together in a concerted effort to prove we could do it. And we did. But priorities change. Attention spans shrink. We elect new leaders more often than most countries. And every timewe do, continuity is lost, priorities shift. It’s one of the weaknesses in our system.”
    “Although, of course, there’s a difference between going to the moon and controlling the weather, isn’t there?” Blaine said.
    “Yes and no. The point is, our objectives don’t always have time to germinate properly. In recent years, our priorities have been more immediate. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, for example. But what if somebody focused on this one objective over a period of a decade, say, or two decades, while we weren’t particularly paying attention? The fact is, as you’ve said yourself, it’s probably doable.”
    “Yes. But the costs would be unfathomable.”
    He nodded very slightly. “Yes, the same as with our space program. But we had an imaginative rationale to get that done and we did. The same with the military’s role in creating the Internet. For years, private industry didn’t consider developing the Internet to be feasible. So the government took charge and helped create it. And the same goes for computers. For ten years, before the costs came down, NASA was the only buyer of large computers. The point is, the government has traditionally supported emerging technologies and in many cases has been responsible for their existence. We could do that with weather technology but there just isn’t the same enthusiasm, or imaginative rationale, that we’ve seen with these other projects.”
    “Okay,” she said. “Point taken. But I still wonder why our intelligence wouldn’t have been able to pick up what was happening.”
    Easton, she noticed, was watching her. His gaze felt like a dark blue wall.
    “We all asked that after 9/11, didn’t we, Secretary Blaine?” he said. “This is, obviously, something that has occurred under our radar. We’re not here to point fingers.”
    “Of course not,” she said. “I’m certainly not doing that.”
    The President gave her a reassuring nod. “Other questions,” he