RUTHFULLY YOURS

Chet Nagle, author of this brilliant, informative and alarming thriller is a Naval Academy graduate, a Cold War carrier pilot who flew in the Cuban Missile Crisis and who later joined International Security Affairs as a Pentagon civilian – leading to years of defense and intelligence work in Iran and Oman.

His chief and most likable protagonist in The Woolsorters’ Plague is Jeremiah Adams, cast as a Special Assistant for External Affairs for the Secretary of Defense. Adams had been a naval aviator, had worked in the Office of Naval Intelligence, and had survived a stint with the CIA and “field ops in strange and awful places.” Finally he got senior enough in the Pentagon to “paint parts of it with his own colors.”

Chet Nagle certainly paints the big picture of terrorism, counterterrorism and inter-agency intrigue with his own vivid colors throughout the book.

Written before our SEALs located and killed Osama bin Laden, The Woolsorters’ Plague begins with a breathtaking episode in which a SEAL team, supported by carrier aircraft, neutralizes guards and radar defenses to destroy secret nuclear ballistic missiles in Iran.

Iran responds to the SEAL attack, and therein hangs this mesmerizing tale. With the cooperation of an American-trained Iranian physician, a lethal stash of anthrax is loaded into cylinders and a nuclear bomb is packed into a suitcase. Then, two Palestinian terrorists from Gaza are brought to Teheran where they are trained to deliver the deadly cargo to the United States. Their transportation is diesel submarine, Yunes, its brilliant Captain Reza planning to cross the Atlantic undetected. He intends to discharge his two terrorist passengers and their lethal cargo near the Atlantic beaches of eastern Virginia. Once there, they will go ashore in an inflatable boat and meet their handlers.

The clandestine voyage is not without mishaps and dangers. Yunes must evade patrol planes, satellite surveillance, and a chase by an American nuclear submarine. Captain Reza is extremely skillful and, thanks to Nagle’s narrative, the reader tends to harbor a sense of respect for Reza during his harrowing voyage. Nevertheless, we are constantly reminded that his inspired leadership was derived from the daring Nazi sub commanders who decimated American Merchant Marine vessels during World War II. Even worse, this captain’s cargo is designed to bring death and destruction to Washington, D.C.

Read it. The book is hard to put down as the forces of evil in Iran come up against Jeremiah Adams, a nearly retired Pentagon bureaucrat who clearly sees the horrific consequences if he fails to thwart the terrorists. What startles me most is the absolute plausibility of the plot and the fear that America’s defenses are more fragile than they should be.

It is a pleasure to interview Chet Nagle.

Ruth King:  In your book you mention enemy landings on American shores during World War II. Tell us about that please.

Chet Nagle:  In 1942, German U-Boats landed explosives and two teams of saboteurs – Nazi terrorists – on Long Island, New York, and on Ponte Verde Beach, Florida. One team planned to blow up the Niagara Falls power plant, a factory in Philadelphia, canal locks on the Ohio River, and three aluminum factories. The other terrorists were to attack the New York water system, a railroad station in Newark, and canal locks in St. Louis and Cincinnati. A lucky spotting by a Coast Guardsman plus the defection of one of the saboteurs led to the arrest of both teams. We were not as fortunate when we were attacked by Moslem terrorists on 9/11, and one must ask if we are really safer today.

Ruth King:  The destruction of the Iranian ICBM facility in Bandar Abbas is very similar to the Israeli destruction of the Osirak reactor in Iraq in 1981. In your opinion is that kind of action still an option for Israeli or American forces?

Chet Nagle:  Absolutely. The military and the Special Forces of Israel and of the United States, especially if they operated together, are capable of destroying anything in Iran.  The Iranians know it. They also know that American political will to take that kind of preventive and defensive action is non-existent.

Ruth King:  I know you are a great supporter of Israel. But in your book, both of the Arab terrorists, Jabber and “The Professor,” say their hatred was fueled by Israeli destruction of their families, their homes and their restaurant. Do you subscribe to the theory that their jihad has its origins in Israeli retaliation?

Chet Nagle:  There is always collateral damage in warfare and, as a result, genuine grievances sometimes arise.  But jihad, and its sanctioned terrorism, has its roots in the Koran and in Islamic dogma. Islam has declared perpetual war on the West, Christianity, Judaism, and on all religions. We must put aside our touch-feely multiculturalism and recognize that we are in a fight for our lives, our culture, our beliefs, and the future of our children.

Ruth King:  You were recently featured in the documentary movie Iranium, http://www.iraniumthemovie.com/ that discussed the threat Iran poses to world peace. How do you feel now about Iran in relation to the Middle East and to Israel in particular?”

Chet Nagle:  We must learn to believe that when madmen promise to kill you, they mean it. Hitler wrote Mein Kampf in 1925, and it was dismissed then as the raving of an Austrian lunatic in prison. Lunatics in Tehran, the Iranian terror masters, now call America the Great Satan and promise to wipe Israel, the Small Satan, off the map. Israel believes the Iranians mean what they say, and America better believe it too.

Ruth King:  Your knowledge of submarines is astonishing. What does the term “snorkeling” mean with respect to subs?

Chet Nagle:  As an anti-submarine carrier pilot during the Cold War, I learned a lot about Soviet nuclear and diesel submarines. Even so, in doing research for The Woolsorters’ Plague I spent hours with submariners to be sure my book was accurate. The “snorkel” is a German invention that allows a submerged diesel submarine to poke a pipe above the ocean surface to get the air needed to run its diesel engines while they charge the sub’s batteries. Modern diesel submarines also have that capability.

Ruth King:  As Iranian submarine Yunes wends its way to American shores, you write that a system named SOSUS, which was very effective in finding Soviet submarines during the Cold War, is now considered ineffectual with regard to nuclear submarines and is therefore obsolete. Can you comment on this? What does the acronym SOSUS stand for, and have we anything in its place?

Chet Nagle:  SOSUS is the acronym for Sound Surveillance System. It was a chain of secret underwater listening stations ringing the North Atlantic Ocean, and based near Greenland, Iceland and Britain.  We used it very successfully to detect Soviet submarines. At the end of the Cold War the system was largely abandoned, and funding to upgrade and maintain it was curtailed. Today, a diesel sub can snorkel its way across the Atlantic undetected, except perhaps for a lucky observation by another submarine or a satellite. I told the story of Iranian submarine Yunes to underline the need for revitalizing SOSUS.

Ruth King:  I have been told that Sharia law prohibits alcohol. Yet, the Iranian terror mastermind Dehesh and some of his subordinates drink a great deal of wine. Does that happen now in many of the Moslem nations that subject citizens to harsh penalties for drinking alcohol?

Chet Nagle:  It certainly does happen frequently, and that goes for drugs as well. I have seen alcohol smugglers flogged in Saudi Arabia, while the higher-ups who run the smuggling operation – and those even higher who drink it – are immune. Despite severe penalties for ordinary citizens, alcohol and drugs are prevalent and available everywhere in the Islamic world, especially for the wealthy and for their cynical Moslem rulers.

Ruth King:  In the book you describe a potential turf battle between Northern Command, Homeland Security, the FBI and state and local police in naming, describing and hunting the enemy? Tell us about that. It is certainly not encouraging.

Chet Nagle:  Regarding terrorism, and especially biological terrorism (the use of germs by terrorists) there is no effective national defense strategy and no inter-agency coordination policy. In spite of this void, the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh estimates that we spend $5 to $6 billion each year for “biological defense,” and the FY2011 federal budget calls for spending $6.5 billion! In January 20011, President Obama added to the confusion by signing Presidential Policy Directive #2, “a national strategy to counter biological threats.” But besides the usual grandiose words, the Directive does not clearly lay out who is in charge and whose personnel rule the germ warfare battlefield.

Ruth King:  In your opinion, what nations today abet terror against the United States and other Western targets?

Chet Nagle:  The US State Department maintains a list of state sponsors of terrorism and terrorist organizations. According to that list, only Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria are sponsors of terrorism. The State Department list of terrorist organizations is a bit longer, and includes the usual suspects, like the IRA. Such politicized lists are rather silly in today’s environment. In the real world, the Obama administration and its slavish mainstream media always fail to mention that every one of the 9/11 terrorists were from Saudi Arabia. It would be more effective, and we would be much safer, if we understood that the world’s most numerous and most deadly terrorists are the jihadists of Islam, and that they are working hand-in-glove with the Muslim Brotherhood – an organization whose manifesto declares that they will “bring down our rotten house from within.”

Ruth King:  Do you think surveillance and intelligence services are hampered by the fear of offending Moslem citizens?

Chet Nagle:  Without a doubt, Ruth! Among other services similarly affected, the FBI is a terrible example of political correctness and multiculturalism run amok. Not only has the FBI appointed agents of the Muslim Brotherhood to advise on how to deal tenderly deal with Moslems, but the FBI translation section (where wiretaps and surveillance material is sent) is exclusively staffed by Arabic-speaking Moslems! These are the same FBI Moslem employees who gave out sweets to celebrate 9/11. When the Jewish community of New York City offered the FBI forty Jewish citizens who were proficient in Arabic, every one of them was turned down because FBI Director Robert Mueller reckoned Jewish translators might be too divisive in the Muslim-staffed translation office. It seems that Director Mueller does not appreciate the value of double-checking translations of surveillance on Muslim terrorists that are done by his Muslim employees!

Ruth King:  Please tell us about the trilogy of books and their sequence.

Chet Nagle:  My publisher wants me to write the capstone to the “Jeremiah Adams trilogy,” but I am having a little difficulty framing the story. My work is always firmly grounded in fact, and the third book of such a trilogy would have to be based on the future of America. And these days our future is very much in doubt. Will our economy implode under the spending and massive debt accumulated by the Obama administration? Will Iran deploy an EMP weapon and destroy our national electrical grid? Will Hezbollah terrorist sleepers, now hidden in our midst, deliver a series of biological warfare attacks and kill our major cities? Perhaps it would be best if I wrote a TV comedy with a title like, “Dancing with the Terrorists.” It would amuse us while we whistle past our graveyard.

Ruth King:  Many thanks Chet Nagle for writing this splendid book and taking the time for this interview.