[-Norbert-]

If it was Calder, he would have plenty of opportunities to defect already.
Imagine the moral blow (not to mention losing one third of their destroyers) if that would have happened. Compared to that the loss of the wargods is like a summer picknick.
And I highly doubt Calder would have been unable to fill his ship with enough likeminded people to comandeer the ship and take it straight to Neptune.

He might be fed up with the way the war was fought (or rather not fought), but I got the imige that he's still a feverent believer in the UEF's cause.

[Black_Yoshi1230]

You think there's a greater chance it's one of the three admirals like the OP guessed?

I didn't say it was any of the Admirals.  They are suspects, though.

It's worth noting that Calder is just as likely as FS1 Alpha 1.  He's also a former GTA officer.

Hmm, he is quite dissatisfied with the Elders, too.

As far as I read, only Netreba has a known intelligence section in the UEF (though I believe Telfer or Simms said that). Someone under him may be a rat. Calder and Netreba are both dissatisfied with the Elders' course, and wanted to take hard-pressed action (even hoping to wreak as much havoc in the time that the Agincourt was under Federation control, and hopefully wanting to use it as their mobile supply post, but that was reserved for something that was classified on a need-to-know basis way beyond my clearance).

[An4ximandros]

Maybe Calder and Netreba are actually dancing to the SHIVishnANS tune? Maybe they don't want the council to make peace with the evil forces of the GTVA and their dark lord Steele and his master!

[CT27]

Or, as some have hinted at before, maybe Admiral Recamai himself?

[Phantom Hoover]

It was Taudigani. She felt that Laporte would benefit from a good character-building unsolved mystery.

[An4ximandros]

I figured it out!

It was obviously the enemies of our enemy!

Spoiler:

The same that sends you that transmission, the hammer of light!

[Drogoth]

Oh please let it be the HoL.

They need to make a come back.

[Aesaar]

That would actually be pretty cool.

I doubt it's the case, but it would be pretty cool.  The Vasudamns are the only ones with pretty much everything going right.

EDIT: Totally leaving that typo in.

[yuezhi]

FS1's Alpha 1?

It was me!

[Droid803]

Have any of you considered...an actual mole.
I haven't.

I don't know what I'm thinking lately.

[SaltyWaffles]

The debriefing, as an in-universe document, can contain errors. Being ready does not necessarily equate to the op being compromised.

It also dismisses out of hand the possibility that the operation was compromised by a Vasudan, which seems much more likely than that it was compromised by a UEF officer.

Somebody got an agent aboard the UEF VIP transport, though.

Yeah, that part still baffles me a bit. It's one thing for the meeting location to be compromised--Vasudans, easy explanation. But how did they find out which ship was going to be used? How did they get aboard? How did they get a pocket nuke aboard, and in Engineering?

And after that, why did the second transport stop several clicks away from the shuttle to receive the Elder? They were in a compromised combat zone, with a whole lot of suspicious activity. Did they really think flying a paper-mache shuttle several kilometers through the open with a small escort was the right way to go about it?

Somehow, the UEF seems to be rather seriously compromised by the GTVA's SOC--if they can get an agent with a pocket nuke aboard a high-security transport that's been randomly selected on short notice for a top-secret mission involving an Elder, could they get an agent with a pocket-nuke aboard an Oculus? In the Main Engineering of, say, the Eris? Or a random Karuna?

[headdie]

The debriefing, as an in-universe document, can contain errors. Being ready does not necessarily equate to the op being compromised.

It also dismisses out of hand the possibility that the operation was compromised by a Vasudan, which seems much more likely than that it was compromised by a UEF officer.

Somebody got an agent aboard the UEF VIP transport, though.

Yeah, that part still baffles me a bit. It's one thing for the meeting location to be compromised--Vasudans, easy explanation. But how did they find out which ship was going to be used? How did they get aboard? How did they get a pocket nuke aboard, and in Engineering?

And after that, why did the second transport stop several clicks away from the shuttle to receive the Elder? They were in a compromised combat zone, with a whole lot of suspicious activity. Did they really think flying a paper-mache shuttle several kilometers through the open with a small escort was the right way to go about it?

Somehow, the UEF seems to be rather seriously compromised by the GTVA's SOC--if they can get an agent with a pocket nuke aboard a high-security transport that's been randomly selected on short notice for a top-secret mission involving an Elder, could they get an agent with a pocket-nuke aboard an Oculus? In the Main Engineering of, say, the Eris? Or a random Karuna?

Who?

The war has been going off long enough that GTVI will have officers running around in UEF territory.  Combine that with the fact that the UEF are loosing the war and have been for some time means there will be many secretly questioning the UEF and Ubuntu which is an intel officer's dream scenario because with care and a little luck they can find plenty UEF personel who will be willing to talk about things they shouldn't and a few of them will be hacked off/scared enough to be susceptible to the suggestion they actively work against the UEF.

How?
There is a bunch of Terrorists and criminal types in Sol, if the Intel Officer can tap into their supply and transport networks then it is easy enough to move this kind of material around.  As for sourcing it then depending on what works best the GTVI can sneak in the bomb or again it might be possible to source it locally.

[Drogoth]

Yeah but they would still need one hell of a highly placed agent to get about that transport

[headdie]

Yeah but they would still need one hell of a highly placed agent to get about that transport

not really, getting it on board could be a maintenance tech and/or a baggage/loading handler.  You probably want the team leader as well to cover the event on the paperwork side and to redirect uncomfortable questions, neither of which need to know what the package is as only the Intel Officer and the person detonating the bomb if different to either of the previous mentioned need to know.  The biggest problem might be making sure your compromised team is assigned to that job but again with a little luck and imagination that is doable if you are on good terms with the person that schedules the work.

edit

just finished rereading your post and realised I miss read it

again not really, when setting up a operation like this one of the things you make sure of is that the bomb is located somewhere the agent on board can access routinely with little suspicion or a scenario can be created where that person going to that location is justifiable.

[crizza]

THe UEF mole is a tricky one...
Every Elder knows, that once the GTVA claims victory, they won't see the light of day again...
The admirals? Hell, Calder might be frustrated with Byrne, but that won't make him a mole.
My bet? What about the possibilty that some of the defectors were SOC from the beginning and trained too fool the UEF...so one planted the nuke...and...the AWACs was allready on station 'cause... Steele expected them to return to this huge floating piece of junk?

[The E]

What about the possibilty that some of the defectors were SOC from the beginning and trained too fool the UEF...so one planted the nuke...and...the AWACs was allready on station 'cause... Steele expected them to return to this huge floating piece of junk?

that possibility exists, but is highly unlikely. Defecting military personnel would not be put on the frontlines, or near security-critical postings. While this is certainly a vector for GTVI personnel to infiltrate the UEF, it would be pretty hard to conduct big operations from the place you end up in, since we can assume that UEF counterintel forces will keep a close eye on defectors.

The point is, it is absolutely possible for GTVI to make contact with the people onboard these transports, and it is also possible that these people can be coerced into performing acts of sabotage. Remember, the UEF already had a domestic terrorism organization at home that can be subverted, and given the general outlook of the Ubuntu populace, it is definitely possible to get them on the side of the GTVA.

[LordPomposity]

it was laporte all along

/shyamalan

[Luis Dias]

So we can all agree that it's a massive plot hole?

(ducks)

[esarai]

No we may not.

[Dragon]

So we can all agree that it's a massive plot hole?

(ducks)

You can't talk about plot holes until you've seen the whole plot. You didn't. This question will be answered, and you'll all be surprised by what the answer is, some more than the others...  [/tease]