Chapter 6 - The Contractor
The programmer was not the only thing the OSI seized.
They also seized the security director's personnel files. They seized the visitor logs. They seized the contractor roster. They seized the appointment calendar for the security director's office for the last ninety days.
And in the appointment calendar, on Monday afternoon at 15:20, they found an entry that read:
"DV — 15:20 — OFFICE"
The initials stood for "Derek Vaughn."
Derek Vaughn was twenty-six years old. He was a civilian contractor who worked for a company called Meridian Security Solutions. He had been assigned to the security director's office at Nellis for eight months. He had a badge that let him into the outer office. He had a badge that let him into the security director's private office. He had a badge that let him into the conference room where the security director met with contractors. And he had, according to the visitor log, entered the security director's private office at 15:22 on Monday afternoon and left at 15:44.
The programmer was in the drawer of the security director's desk from 15:45, when Keene returned, until 15:31 — Okafor checked the timeline twice — wait, that was not right.
She checked the timeline again.
15:15 — Keene takes programmer out of drawer, puts it in briefcase, walks out.
15:22 — Derek Vaughn enters the security director's private office (per visitor log).
15:31 — Programmer three is used to create the cloned credential (per issuer code).
15:44 — Derek Vaughn leaves the security director's private office (per visitor log).
15:45 — Keene returns to office, puts programmer in drawer.
15:47 — Cloned credential opens Vault 4.
Okafor read the timeline three times.
Then she called Michelle Vance at the IG's office and she said, "Ray, I need to tell you what I just found."
"Go ahead."
"The programmer was used at 15:31. The contractor was in the office from 15:22 to 15:44. The colonel was out of the office from 15:15 to 15:45. And I am looking at a calendar entry that says the contractor had a 15:20 appointment with the colonel, but the colonel was not in the office at 15:20, because he had walked out at 15:15 with the programmer in his briefcase."
Ray Vance was quiet for a moment.
"Michelle," he said, "are you telling me that the colonel walked out of the office with the programmer, came back at 15:45, put the programmer in the drawer, and that during the entire forty-five minutes he was gone, the contractor was sitting alone in his office with the programmer in a drawer that the contractor had the badge to open?"
"I am telling you that. And I am telling you that the programmer was used at 15:31. Which means that the contractor used it. And I am telling you that the colonel's calendar shows the contractor had an appointment. And I am telling you that the appointment was scheduled, which means the colonel knew the contractor was going to be in his office. And I am telling you that the colonel did not log the programmer out, which means the colonel did not follow the procedure that exists to prevent exactly this."
"Michelle," Ray said, "I am going to ask you a question and I want you to think carefully before you answer it."
"Go ahead."
"Was Colonel Keene in on it? Or was Colonel Keene covering for the contractor after the fact?"
May you like
Michelle Okafor looked at the wall of her office for a long moment.
"I do not know yet," she said. "But I am going to find out."
