True Faith and Allegiance
True Faith and Allegiance is a political thriller, written by Mark Greaney and released on December 6, 2016. It is his fourth and final solo entry in the Ryanverse, featuring characters created by Tom Clancy.
In the book, President Jack Ryan and The Campus must contain a massive intelligence breach that has been responsible for a series of terrorist attacks on American military and intelligence personnel. The book debuted at number three on the New York Times bestseller list.
Plot
Romanian hacker Alexandru Dalca obtains an old copy of the e-QIP database, which contains personal information on millions of U.S. military and intelligence personnel. The Chinese originally hire him to use the stolen information in order to locate U.S. spies in their country. However, Dalca uses this treasure trove of information to make a profit by building targeting packages on specific individuals. This attracts the attention of Saudi technocrat Sami bin Rashid, who wanted to provoke the United States into a quagmire in the Middle East fighting ISIS, which would then recoup the loss of profit in Saudi oil.After making contact with Dalca through the dark web, Bin Rashid meets with ISIS operative Abu Musa al Matari and formulates a plan to attack U.S. military and intelligence personnel, using the targeting packages compiled by Dalca himself, in order to further his plan. Al Matari then recruits cleanskins and assigns them into cells to carry out the attacks. The video recordings of the assaults are then uploaded to the Islamic State's propaganda site, promoting the terror organization, garnering new followers, and inspiring a series of copycat attacks.
The intelligence community quickly becomes concerned about the wave of attacks on U.S. intelligence and military personnel, and scramble to find the source. President Jack Ryan is then pressured by the media and elements in his own government to deploy troops into the Middle East to battle the Islamic State, but persistently refuses to do so by gathering intelligence, knowing that Islamic State is provoking him.
Meanwhile The Campus, currently understaffed, recruits two new members: previously director of transportation Adara Sherman and ex-Delta Force operator Bartosz “Midas” Jankowski. They also investigate the attacks, and later deduce that the e-QIP database may have been compromised. Jack Ryan Jr. looks into a particular, seemingly unrelated attack on Scott Hagen, who is the commander of the guided missile destroyer USS James Greer, from the brother of a Russian submarine crew killed by Hagen in a recent battle in the Baltic Sea. After looking into the assailant's social media, he finds out that Dalca provided information on Hagen prior to the attack. With this information on hand, The Campus heads to Romania.
In the meantime, the Chinese get suspicious about Dalca not following their orders. The hacker assumes the same thing, and when the Chinese come looking for him in his place of work, he escapes, intending to leave Romania. The Campus, who are surveilling the Romanian nearby, joins in the chase and get involved in a shootout with the Chinese, killing them, but Dalca is nowhere to be found. The Campus later finds out about Dalca's plans to leave the country, and abduct him at an airport. He decides to cooperate in stopping al Matari; Jack presents himself as a target, staying in an isolated cabin in a Maryland forest. Simultaneously, Olivia "Sally" Ryan accepts an engagement proposal from her Turkish boyfriend Dr. Davi Kartal. Al Matari takes the bait and is easily captured, while the rest of his henchmen are killed in the ensuing firefight, with Davi injuring the ringleader.
The headquarters of the Islamic State's propaganda wing was later destroyed in an airstrike. The U.S. betrays Dalca to Chinese security agents, but his fate is left unknown. Meanwhile, Bin Rashid was killed by The Campus in a plane headed for Australia.
Characters
United States government
Jack Ryan: President of the United StatesScott Adler: Secretary of stateMary Pat Foley: Director of national intelligenceRobert Burgess: Secretary of defenseJay Canfield: Director of the Central Intelligence AgencyDan Murray: Attorney generalAndrew Zilko: Secretary of homeland securityArnold van Damm: President Ryan's chief of staffStuart Collier: CIA operations officerBenjamin Kincaid: United States Department of State consular officialBarbara Pineda: Analyst, Defense Intelligence AgencyJennifer Kincaid: CIA operations officerThomas Russell: Assistant special agent in charge, director of Joint Terrorism Task ForceDavid Jeffcoat: Supervisory special agent, Federal Bureau of InvestigationU.S. military
Carrie Ann Davenport: Captain, United States Army; copilot/gunner of AH-64E ApacheTroy Oakley: Chief warrant officer 3, United States Army; pilot of AH-64E ApacheScott Hagen: Commander, United States Navy; captain of USS James Greer Wendell Caldwell: General, United States Army; commanding officer of United States Central CommandThe Campus
Gerry Hendley: Director of The Campus and Hendley AssociatesJohn Clark: Director of operationsDomingo “Ding” Chavez: Senior operations officerDominic “Dom” Caruso: Operations officerJack Ryan, Jr.: Operations officer / senior analystGavin Biery: Director of information technologyAdara Sherman: Director of transportationBartosz Jankowski: Lieutenant colonel, U.S. Army; call sign “Midas”; ex-Delta Force operatorHelen Reid: Pilot of Campus Gulfstream G550Chester “Country” Hicks: Copilot of Campus Gulfstream G550Other characters
Dr. Cathy Ryan: First Lady of the United StatesDr. Olivia “Sally” Ryan: Daughter of President Jack Ryan- Dr. Davi Kartal: Turkish doctor and fiancé of Olivia Ryan Xozan Barzani: Kurdish Peshmerga commanderSami bin Rashid: Security official, Gulf Cooperation CouncilAbu Musa al-Matari: Yemeni national / Islamic State operativeVadim Rechkov: Russian citizen in U.S. on a student visaDragomir Vasilescu: Director of Advanced Research Technological Designs Alexandru Dalca: Researcher for ARTD; open-source investigations expertLuca Gabor: Romanian prison inmate; identity intelligence expertEdward Laird: Former CIA executive; intelligence community contractor“Algiers”: Algerian ISIS operativeTripoli: Libyan ISIS operativeRakim: Leader of ISIS cell “Chicago”Omar: Leader of ISIS cell “Detroit”Angela Watson: Leader of ISIS cell “Atlanta”Kateb Albaf: Leader of ISIS cell “Santa Clara”David Hembrick: Leader of ISIS cell “Fairfax”