Links to the MAlign

President Pritchart wouldn't necessarily have the authority to hand the head of security for the Haven State department over to Manticore for any reason. Some might think otherwise, but Pritchart is very careful in following the limits of her office and not overstepping her authority. Handing someone who works for the State department to Manticore would fall under an abuse of power since she cannot tell the State department what to do. I believe that was a point as to how Giancola buggered the diplomatic missives. Giancola had the authority to do that if he wanted, which came back to bite him i the butt when events spiraled out of control.

Zakharra wrote:President Pritchart wouldn't necessarily have the authority to hand the head of security for the Haven State department over to Manticore for any reason. Some might think otherwise, but Pritchart is very careful in following the limits of her office and not overstepping her authority. Handing someone who works for the State department to Manticore would fall under an abuse of power since she cannot tell the State department what to do. I believe that was a point as to how Giancola buggered the diplomatic missives. Giancola had the authority to do that if he wanted, which came back to bite him i the butt when events spiraled out of control.

Lighten up a bit... the part about the 'cats, etc. was meant to be humorous. Usher, etc. already exhausted all leads re Giancola's death, so the reason Pritchart would allow JCN to be extradited has to do with conspiracy, aka the deaths at the hands of the Masadans which occurred at the end of Ashes of Victory. Manticore would want to know who was compromised in the foreign office under Descroix, etc.

SharkHunter wrote:I wonder if Tony Nesbitt (who so far seems very honorable) has so much credibility with folks (maybe he an Aprilist or ?) that Jean Claude is more of a grey eminence a la Georgia Sakristos than we or Kevin Usher have been able to figure out so far, aka twisting Younger, et. al within their agendas as needed to keep his own dealings hidden from sight.

For example, we know that Oscar St. Just had contacts that got him to the Masadans, had to go through SOMEONE who uses Masadans, aka Mesa and Manpower... JCN, perhaps? Question is, if he's found out, who kills him first, Pritchart, Usher, Tony, or a 'cat.

Personally if I were Pritchart I'd hand him to Elizabeth and let Ariel do the wetwork.

There is no evidence that the Masadans were in contact with Mesa and Manpower at the time of the Hassan operation. Given that Haven had attempted to form an alliance with Masada before the war, it would be surprising if St Just (who was second in command of InSec) had no contacts on Masada.

People in the official Mesan security agencies might have caught a sliver of information. Of course another question is whether they kept those during the recent mess.

aairfccha wrote:People in the official Mesan security agencies might have caught a sliver of information. Of course another question is whether they kept those during the recent mess.

Which recent mess. The period we are talking about was from just before McQueen's coup attempt to just after, and StateSec would have largely stayed intact in that period.

Garth 2 wrote:

fallsfromtrees wrote:I've been re-reading the series, and am up to WoH. It occurs to me that we haven't heard of Jean-Claude Nesbitt, Secretary of State Giancola's hatchet man since WoH. Since there is now going to be a sizable colony of treecats on Haven, and that Kevin Usher will undoubtedly going to get one, what happens if Kevin decides interview JCN with a treecat present - asking questions like "What do you know about nanotech assassination techniques?". Could provide an interesting side route to the MAlign, yes no?

Why would Kevin even ask this question of Nesbitt, the Republic think that Giancola was the MA agent?

Kevin's really should be putting "State" under a microscope after such a massive security failing?

The real question is; Why's Nesbitt is still employed as head of security after his primary got killed in a preventable traffic accident.

Yes, they think that Giancola was the MAlign agent, but they are also certain that he wasn't operating alone, and are now reasonably certain the the death of Yves (I can't remember the last name, emissary to Manticore) was in fact a murder to cover up Giancola's tracks, so that there is someone else hiding in the woodwork. In addition, Kevin is a sufficiently paranoid person, who is going to be vetting everyone in the top levels of the government for connections to the MAlign, he might well stumble across JCN by accident.

The question would be just how far down from the top levels of government Kevin would be looking. At this point he has access to a cat who can tell him the truth about anyone he questions. But would it occur to him to question Jean Claude? The guy is a security chief at State, not a political or even a bureaucratic role.

But then, one could argue, successfully I think, that your security honchos is where you should start the questioning...

Don

n7axw wrote:The question would be just how far down from the top levels of government Kevin would be looking. At this point he has access to a cat who can tell him the truth about anyone he questions. But would it occur to him to question Jean Claude? The guy is a security chief at State, not a political or even a bureaucratic role.

But then, one could argue, successfully I think, that your security honchos is where you should start the questioning...

Don

Certainly if you are attempting to infiltrate a naval service or country, the first place to start is in the security services.

The MAlign undoubtedly has done this several times. First under the Legislaturists (and lost most of them during the Pierre coup), then under the Committee of Public Safety (and lost most of them under the Constitutional Restoration), and now under the current regime. I can see JCN having been coopted during this time period, although I don't see him as being a member of the onion, but rather someone who was bribed or blackmailed into becoming an agent. Why the MAlign would have provided their secret nanotech weapon to him is puzzling, but might have been considered as another field test of the weapon.

n7axw wrote:The question would be just how far down from the top levels of government Kevin would be looking. At this point he has access to a cat who can tell him the truth about anyone he questions.

Really? Can you present evidence that he has a treecat trained in interrogation or criminal investigation and in detecting subterfuges vs other reactions?

kzt wrote:

n7axw wrote:The question would be just how far down from the top levels of government Kevin would be looking. At this point he has access to a cat who can tell him the truth about anyone he questions.

Really? Can you present evidence that he has a treecat trained in interrogation or criminal investigation and in detecting subterfuges vs other reactions?

And how much training in interrogation and criminal investigation and in detecting subterfuges vs other reactions did Alfredo have?

We know that he will get a treecat since he is a senior member of the government of Haven.