Chapter 11 - The Verdict
Colonel Adam Keene was convicted on all counts.
He was sentenced to eight years in federal prison, reduced to six for time served. He was dismissed from the Air Force. He was required to forfeit all pay and allowances. He was ordered to pay restitution to the Air Force in the amount of $180,000, which was the cost of the investigation and the repair of the network.
He appealed. The appeal was denied.
He is currently serving his sentence at a federal penitentiary in Colorado. He will be eligible for parole in 2034.
Derek Vaughn was convicted in a federal court in Nevada of espionage. He was sentenced to fifteen years in federal prison. He is currently serving his sentence at a federal penitentiary in Arizona.
Special Agent Michelle Okafor was awarded the Air Force Office of Special Investigations Meritorious Service Award for her work on the case. She is now the OSI's director of counterintelligence at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
Lauren Price was promoted to technical sergeant in June. She was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal for her actions on the morning of the checkpoint confrontation. She is now a master sergeant and the noncommissioned officer in charge of the access control program at Nellis.
Priya Shah was restored to duty in May. Her clearance was reinstated. Her record was corrected. She was promoted to master sergeant the following year. She is now the senior enlisted leader for the cyber security program at Nellis.
She still writes audits. She writes one every Tuesday morning. She does not run them herself anymore — that is Lauren's job now — but she checks them. She checks them every Tuesday morning before the shift change, because she believes that the person who built the audit should be the person who reads it.
She and Lauren are friends. They have been friends since the morning Lauren Price stepped out from behind a counter and read a colonel the content of an audit.
They do not talk about that morning much anymore. They do not need to. It is behind them. It is in the record.
But every year, on the anniversary of that morning — the morning of the cut badge — Priya sends Lauren a message.
The message is always the same.
"Thank you for stepping out from behind the counter."
May you like
Lauren always answers.
"Thank you for writing the audit."
