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©John Altman
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Today’s guest blog post is by thriller writer John Altman whose latest
novel Disposable Asset, takes place
against the backdrop of ongoing brinksmanship with Putin’s Russia. His article for Shotsblog is about modern
surveillance and Edward Snowden, which links into the themes of his latest
novel.
Western intelligence agencies, Edward Snowden has revealed, are not
only infiltrating Islamic extremist groups and Russian sleeper cells; they’re
also watching you, model citizen and responsible taxpayer, via the webcam and
software already installed on the computer you bought at your local
neighborhood superstore.
Or at least, they might be.
Whether you consider Snowden patriot or traitor, hero or narcissist – or,
perhaps, all of the above – there’s no denying that his revelations drive home
the uneasy inverse relationship between privacy and security. Other post-9/11 disclosures
have raised similar issues: suspected enemies of the state have been detained indefinitely
without trial, subjected to so-called ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’; the USA
PATRIOT act has authorized roving wiretaps and government searches of business
records. But these phenomena remain comfortably removed from the typical
personal experience, and thus more firmly situated in the realm of theory.
Snowden’s leaks, by contrast, hit the average Westerner where he or she lives –
in front of his or her computer.
In my new novel Disposable Asset,
Edward Snowden is not mentioned once by name, but his presence is felt on every
page. Asset evokes Snowden explicitly, telling the story of an American defector
who has fled to Russia with a cache of classified documents that expose
intelligence overreaching, where, having been offered sanctuary by the Kremlin,
he is murdered by a CIA assassin.
The book also confronts deeper implications raised by the cutting-edge
technologies Snowden has revealed. As a manhunt develops for the assassin, we
witness firsthand how, in the information age, privacy has become an antiquated
concept. Cell phones are remotely accessed without users’ knowledge; facial
recognition software combs through endless surveillance camera and quadrocopter
drone footage; spy satellites with a resolution of five centimeters reconnoiter
the earth’s surface from thousands of miles above; infrared cameras and parabolic
microphones eavesdrop through walls and closed doors; the scantest traces of
blood, skin or hair lead to complete DNA profiles, with the chances of
different individuals sharing identical profiles one in one billion.
But pointing out the scary efficiency of modern surveillance tells only
half of the story – for the book also describes a reenergized Russian Empire, a
reinvigorated network of secret prison camps in Siberia, and a ruthless and
determined inner circle at a Kremlin that harbors little respect for human
rights and none whatsoever for civil liberties. The question Disposable Asset
ultimately poses, then, is which manifests the greater danger to the West: the
external threat of a Russia that resembles ever more closely an artifact from
the Cold War, or the creeping internal threat posed by the compromising of personal
freedoms in the name of national security?
Of course this particular balancing act, between external threat and
internal rights, is nothing new. But as intelligence gathering grows more
efficient, more automated, and more intrusive, and the lingering specter of
9/11 reminds us all too acutely of the cost of failures regarding national
security, the question of what balance is the right balance seems more
immediate than ever before.
You can find more information about the author on his website. You can also follow him on Twitter @johnaltman1969. You can also find him on Facebook.
Disposable Asset
A nineteen-year-old
runaway goes head-to-head with the Kremlin and a seasoned CIA operative in a thrilling
tale of international intrigue and revenge.
Having completed her mission to silence an agency defector, CIA
operative Cassie Bradbury finds herself cut adrift in Moscow with no documents,
no tickets and no identification. Hot on her trail are the Kremlin, the Russian
Mafia – and Sean Ravensdale, the disgraced ex-CIA agent who has been sent to
track her down. Realizing that she has
been set up and is now expendable, Cassie will need all her courage and
resourcefulness to outwit her pursuers – and stay alive long enough to exact
revenge on the man who recruited her, who trained her – who betrayed her.
Disposable Asset is by John Altman and is published on 29 May 2015, (Severn House, £19.99)
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