Zero Day

Open up!

- Morning. - Oh, morning, sir.

Uh, the feeder by the main path is empty again.

That so?

Yeah, I could have sworn I refilled it yesterday.

I don't know, maybe the blue jays.

- I guess they like the expensive stuff. - I'll take care of it later.

No, I'll get it. It's okay. Maybe it's the squirrels.

- Pretty hungry squirrels, sir. - Uh-huh.

There you go. Enjoy.

Today's briefing, Mr. President.

Thank you.

- Have a good one. - Thank you.

- Here you are. - Thank you.

When does my wife land?

I'm told it's fluid.

Oh, uh, we do owe the caterer a final headcount for Saturday night.

Have you heard from Alex?

No.

Well, I'll just assume she's coming.

And you can send this morning's visitor to the cottage.

Yes, sir.

- Thank you. - You're welcome.

Wow.

Adlai Stevenson once told me that the key to his political success

was learning how to read upside down.

Mr. President, hello.

Sorry, I didn't see you there.

Invisibility is the superpower

that all of us ex-presidents have to learn to master.

Go ahead.

You really do this?

It's a habit I picked up in law school.

I found that I could look at the same information

hours or even days later

and see something I had missed

or in a way that never even occurred to me.

Must make the whole process easier to have records like this.

Is that your way of asking me why it's taking me so long to write the book?

Ben said you were reluctant to meet me.

Oh, I'm happy to meet you.

I just don't know how someone else can help me write my memoir.

Well, if you ask around, you'll find I've worked with some significant figures.

Not as significant as you, of course.

Well, my significance peaked way before you were even born.

I disagree, sir.

You were the last president in modern memory

who was able to consistently rally bipartisan support.

Your memoir has the potential to make a real difference.

Well, Ben said you were good.

You know who that is?

It's John Flanagan.

Yup.

- You grew up together… - Mmm.

…served together in the army.

Made it through two tours only to get killed in Greenpoint

picking up a carton of milk.

It's what inspired you to become a prosecutor.

Sit down.

Yeah, John had this, uh, thing he used to say.

"Greatness requires greatness."

I never really knew what it meant, but now I think it was simple.

You earn your reputation with what you do,

especially in those moments.

You have so many of those moments.

People know all those stories.

Some, but not all.

Like?

Why, with victory almost certain,

you inexplicably chose not to run for re-election?

Inexplicably?

You know the answer. Everybody does.

There are those who say there were other reasons.

Are you one of them?

No, but nowadays, gossip not refuted becomes fact.

Well, maybe we were just too busy burying our son to bother reading the tabloids.

Mr. President, I can't imagine how painful that must have been,

but you haven't spoken about it since, and some people just can't--

I know it's been a long time since the deadline passed,

and I owe your boss either a book or his money back,

so tell him the draft is coming very soon.

It's not that easy. The man was President of the United States,

and when I mentioned his son, he basically threw me out.

But, Ben, you have a bigger problem,

ghostwriter or not.

I don't believe he has it in him to finish.

I think whatever really happened back then,

I don't think he wants to think about it.

I understand. You still there?

Ben?

Ben?

There must be some kind of dead zone.

We've received reports not only of widespread outages

impacting multiple regional power grids,

but of computer systems that control transportation,

communications,

and other infrastructure completely hijacked,

with safety warnings somehow overridden.

Early estimates suggest a significant but unknown number of casualties.

…as subway cars and commuter trains filled with passengers

found themselves switched onto the same track,

resulting in head-on collisions and mass injuries.

Officials here are saying critical life support equipment simply shut down,

and backup generators failed, leaving patients…

Airplanes losing contact with air traffic control

were forced to momentarily fly blind…

…casualties…

Seemingly, every phone in America displayed the same haunting message.

"This will happen again."

- Sir? - One minute of absolute…

- Sir? - …nationwide ter--

Did you find them?

Mrs. Mullen's flight was en route from Washington,

but the FAA says only three planes went down,

and none of them originated from National.

- And Alex? - We're still trying.

Hmm.

Leaving the nation to wonder what exactly will happen again,

when will it happen,

and who is responsible.

Exactly one minute.

Multiple systems.

And then back on.

Yes. I'll take care of them.

For too long, this White House

and this country has been complacent in the face of our enormous vulnerability.

This has, for some time, been a great fear of mine

and other members of Congress on both sides of the aisle.

Our interconnectedness with the world carries with it a cost.

It's time to wake up.

This video, filmed on the New York City subway,

captured the harrowing moments when the Metro abruptly lost power,

shortly before all mobile devices were disabled.

- Can you wave for Mommy? - Wave to Mommy! Say hi!

Hi, Mommy!

Yay! Your first time on the subway!

Hi, Mom--

It's okay, baby. It's almost our stop.

I got you. It's okay.

There's a train in front of us. Why aren't we stopping?

Hi.

Do they actually know anything yet?

- No. Nothing. - Oh God.

I'm fine, George.

I didn't realize a plane could pull up that fast,

but then it was just a long wait circling LaGuardia.

- You talk to her? - I did. She's fine.

- Getting ready for the special session. - Mmm, okay.

- How bad is it? - Oh, it's bad.

People think these systems we have are infallible,

but for this many different ones to all go down at the same time,

that's beyond any capability that even we have,

or at least that I know of.

The Russians?

Maybe. But…

Mitchell's supposed to speak from the White House.

So she better have something.

…this country has been complacent in the face of our enormous…

Meantime, all these clowns can do is just pour more gasoline on the fire.

I saw a body at the railroad crossing.

- I hope it wasn't one of the neighbors. - Mmm.

It's time to wake up. This can't ever happen again.

These words today from Speaker of the House, Richard Dreyer.

With bitter accusations flying, search and recovery efforts ongoing,

and very few answers,

we are now waiting for the president to make her address to the nation,

which I'm told is imminent.

What do you see, buddy?

Del?

Search and rescue efforts continued overnight

at the scene of dozens of major rail and traffic accidents across the country.

As people continue to search for missing loved ones,

makeshift memorials have popped up all over the nation

for the thousands already confirmed dead.

Mike, we've been hearing the term Zero Day…

- Hector. Good morning. - Oh, morning, sir.

There's something out there. Fox, raccoon, coyote, maybe.

I don't know. I didn't get a look at it, but…

I heard it, and I think Del got a whiff of it.

Oh, well, I'll lay some traps when things settle.

- Thanks. - Mm-hmm.

So in simple but technical terms,

Zero Day refers to a cyber breach that targets unknown vulnerabilities

in software systems.

Morning, Mr. President.

- Let me have that, thank you. - Yes, sir.

…knowing that a potential suspect is within reach.

You would think that an attack executed digitally would leave some kind of…

- Here you are. - Thanks.

…to track it back to the perpetrators.

- Is that a correct assumption? - That's absolutely…

Roger Carlson's here to see you.

They don't have anything. Nothing.

Sir, Roger's here.

Roger, he's here at the house?

Yeah, Kevin said he's been waiting outside the gate since before 5:00 a.m.

Jeez, let him in then.

Yes, sir.

Hey.

What the hell are you doing here?