CHAPTER 9
MR. B and the STUXNET WORM OPERATION
The Christians had been separated into a convoy for transport to the Iraqi border. The Team was overnighting in a small box canyon. We were guided to our next assignment by the Kurdish bad boys of ASAYISH, Kurdish intelligence. ASAYISH was a pleasant group - as long as you were on their side.
The Kurds lay in one circle, and we, The Team and Mr. B, lay in another circle of our own nearby on sleeping bags. The bags gave us protection from the damp and cool mountain air. Laying in a circle provided us with 360 coverage for defense while sleeping.
A conversation had been going on in our group for some time. It isn't easy to sleep when you've been tense for days. Talking offered a way of breaking up some of that tension.
Amani, the brain, popped up with a question for Mr. B, "Unit 8200 was involved in the Stuxnet Op. Were you involved, Mr. B?"
Mr. B propped himself up on his elbows. "Amani, only here in the seclusion of this mountainous wilderness can I give you a very unofficial answer to your question. All of you have been vetted by the FBI and Mossad with the highest clearances possible. I'm sure you all suspected such."
Mabior laughed, "We have had access to info and things of a highly sensitive nature. I always assumed that was the case, but I thought it best to not ask."
Everyone nodded or assented to Mabior's words. Amani, well, he's Amani the prober - always.
Amani pushed for the whole story, "Mr. B, I understand that, for security, Iran operated its centrifuge enrichment solely offline. The centrifuges had been bought through Pakistan. The Pakistanis use the Zippe-type centrifuges - the P1 and P2. As I understand it, the P2, with its maraging steel rotor, is stronger, faster, and can enrich more uranium per machine. Of course, the implication of that would be for Iranians to launch into the nuke weapons game faster."
Still on his elbows, Mr. B gave in to Amani by taking over the story. "Okay - the US approached Israel for assistance."
This change caused everyone to rise to their elbows, me included. This was a "wow" moment.
Continuing, Mr. B rose to a sitting position, "The US had invested over a billion dollars into the development of a worm virus called Stuxnet to take down the Iranian centrifuges. Being offline, they wanted our tech expertise, not to mention our insights and general knowledge of the Iranian nuke program."
At the mention of a billion dollars for a single virus development, we gasped. Was this insanity, or was it just an example of the power of the US, or both? We all leaned in for more juicy info.
Before resuming the tale, Mr. B stared into space while collecting his thoughts, "I'll be frank with you. We had a big problem to solve. We needed identical centrifuges to test Stuxnet. Buying large volumes of duplicate centrifuges from Pakistan would likely raise eyebrows at VAJA, Iranian intelligence. Well -" He laughed. "Well, here's where God jumped in to save our rears again. It just so happened that the Gaddafi regime was falling apart at the same time, in 2011. Lybian centrifuges were the same as Iran's. The US managed to - shall we say - acquire them." Another chuckle. "Israel and the US are tied at the hip. You hear about the fear of China, Russia, and Iran placing malware into our systems. It is the US and Israel who are to be feared the most. At the moment of a dead end, God presented us with the needed centrifuges."
Amani's mind was overheating, "Mr. B, I am presented daily with evidence of the God of Israel's movements in this world!"
Listening to Amani, Mr. B could only shake his head in agreement, saying, "In this world of the intelligence industry, you often see countries, butting up against our combined intelligence agencies, being made insanely hard-hearted by our God like the Pharaoh in Exodus. One can only assume it is to display God's glory to the world."
Taking in a deep breath, Mr. B picked up the story's threads, "Our next problem was how to place the virus into an offline system. We needed someone to place the worm on a single USB into one computer to sleep until the time had come. We found that person with the help of the Dutch intelligence agency, AIVD. If I remember correctly, the man's name was Erik van Sabben, an Iranian engineer, living in the Netherlands. Van Sabben had been recruited by the Dutch AIVD. He made regular trips to the Natanz enrichment center. With a simple flash drive, he destroyed over a thousand centrifuges out of 5,000 at Natanz. The USB inserted mole succeeded by speeding up and destroying the centrifuges and causing their destruction. Stuxnet infected other computers as its virus attacked an unsuspecting Iranian offline system. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful, but the evidence we have acquired and shipped to the US and Israel is proof to the contrary."
Mr. B gave us an indication of a repercussion from this designer virus. It carries a side effect with it, the Stuxnet Virus infected thousands of innocent computers worldwide. That's the problem with all these cyber weapons. The general population isn't immune to its carnage. These viruses are like nuclear bombs.
All this info from Mr. B caused everyone to lie or sit in deep thought as we digested what he had just revealed.
Amani had a last word to Mr. B, "I thank you for the story you have blessed us with, Mr. B. All of us will keep this to ourselves. What a glorious God is our God, the God of Israel. We must always find new ways to glorify him to the world."
At that, Samuel stood up and walked to the middle of our circle, "Gentlemen, I think we need to pray to our God to thank him for all the miracles he blesses his faithful with each day."
As Samuel finished his powerful prayer, A military Land Rover shot into our camp. We were startled at first, but quickly recovered as the dust settled. Though dark, we eventually made out a driver and two gunners with beaming faces carrying news of utmost importance for a member of The Team, Samuel.
Thon commented, "That must be what it looks like when The Team comes flying into a situation like a pack of ghastly monsters."
The Rover driver looked around. Spotting Samuel, the obvious short one, he jumped from the vehicle and ran to Samuel hugging and imploring him to be quick at the same time. Samuel with a confused reply, "Be quick to what?"
The driver looked dumbfounded at him, saying, "My friend - your wife and baby cry out for you! It is time. Come quickly."
That was the last sane moment that night for anyone.
Asked where they came up with the Rover, said the Brits were kind enough to gift it to us on their way out of Afghanistan. Artie & Giff were all smiles at that answer.
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