by Andrew Watts
“So the North Koreans are attacking us?”
“We don’t know for certain. The data is still coming in. It was shortly after the North Korean missile launch indications that our ballistic missile detection systems came under attack. For a short period, we were still able to get partial launch detection data. It was at this time that we saw several additional launch indications. That second set of missile launches did not, I repeat, not originate from North Korea.”
“More missiles? Then where—”
“The second wave of missile launches originated from the Russo-Chinese border. Where the North Korean missile launches were small in number, the second wave of launches was more substantial.”
“Where are those missiles headed?”
“We don’t know, sir. We’re attempting to get more data now.”
The national security advisor swore. “This is completely unsatisfactory! Those missiles could be headed this way. We need to consider launching our own strike.”
The president motioned for him to calm down. “Easy, now. We need to know who our enemy is first.”
A voice on the phone said, “Sir, this is the CIA director. The North Koreans are incapable of pulling off the level of military activity we’re seeing in the Western Pacific right now. These attacks are occurring over a very large geography, consistent with PLA and PLA Navy asset locations. Mr. President, I think we should consider this a Chinese military action. Possibly done in collaboration with the North Koreans.”
General Rice said, “The Russians could be involved as well. We can’t rule that out, based on where the second set of missile launches was detected.”
General Sprague said, “It’s possible that the second set of missiles was launched at North Korea, or a variety of other targets, sir. We simply don’t know.”
The national security advisor said, “But we’re being attacked by conventional means at locations throughout the Pacific! Surely we have to take that into consideration here. For God’s sake, let’s use our heads.”
Several voices began talking all at once, both in the presidential vehicle and over the phone.
The president quieted them with a question. “General Sprague, why don’t we have a better picture of what’s happening right now?”
General Sprague said, “Mr. President, less than thirty minutes ago, all of our data and communications with Thule and Pine Gap went offline. I don’t want to speculate, Mr. President, but they may have been attacked. At about the same time, several antisatellite weapons began destroying the majority of our early-warning birds circulating the globe.”
The president blew out a slow breath, then said quietly, “How is that possible?”
“They used different techniques, Mr. President. We believe the attacks were primarily space-based. They must have pre-positioned their own satellites near ours, in the same orbital plane. They likely used models that act like motherships, filled with smaller satellite craft. Those smaller satellites are sent out to attack ours, and most explode like mines when they come into contact with our satellites. Some of their weapons have lasers or mechanisms that will impair or destroy our sensors. These antisatellite weapons are very hard to detect, until it’s too late.”
“And you’re telling me that the Chinese have destroyed all of the satellites—”
“Mr. President, without more evidence, I can’t tell you with certainty that it was the Chinese.”
“Now what the hell is that supposed to mean? You just said—”
“Sir, the Russians also have this capability. We should also not rule out the possibility that China and Russia have made an alliance and are both acting against us. Or that one is spoofing us into thinking that the other is acting. Until we know more…”
President Griffin felt his throat constrict. He closed his eyes, a searing migraine starting to form.
His chief of staff said, “Are you alright, Mr. President?”
He opened his eyes. “Yes. Yes, I’m fine.”
The president’s body jerked as the vehicle turned sharply. They were now turning into Joint Base Andrews.
The general said, “Some communications lines are being restored. The updates are coming in pretty fast now. We now have confirmation from Pacific Command. US military units are engaged in combat operations with Chinese and North Korean personnel, on multiple fronts. We have just received reports of attacks on US bases…uh…wait one…” The general sounded like he was reading the reports in his hands. “There seems to be some confusion here, sir. These bases are INCONUS. Sir, I’ll need to reverify that. This says that Dover has been hit. That can’t be right.” The general’s voice became muffled as he spoke to one of his subordinates off the phone. The president heard him say, “You’re sure?” Then the general’s voice became clear. “Mr. President, I stand corrected. The information on the domestic base attack appears to be accurate. And we now have a report of a second domestic military base being attacked in Texas.”
The president and his chief of staff looked at each other in shock.
“Define attacked, General. What the hell is going on? Who the hell is attacking us inside the US?”
“Sir…” There was a delay as he spoke to someone next to him. “Sir, we’re still evaluating the information that’s coming to us, but it appears that a ground force, strength unknown, is attacking US Air Force bases inside the continental US.”
“A ground force? Inside the US? This is in addition to attacks on our Pacific military bases?”
“That’s correct. Yes, sir. I’m now being told that these attacks were by small groups of soldiers. Again, Mr. President, this is all very early. Preliminary information—”
“I understand. What do you know?”
“Stand by.”
There was a momentary silence, followed by General Rice saying, “Mr. President, we have reports of several…as far as we can tell, Chinese special operations teams have attacked some of our INCONUS Air Force bases.”
“When did this happen?”
“All in the past half hour, sir.”
“My God…”
“Yes, sir. I think we should consider this a full-scale attack on the United States. This isn’t limited to the Pacific Theater.”
“Sir, I’m being told that they hit a specific group of Air Force bases throughout the country. We think they’re trying to target our aerial refueling aircraft.”
“Why?”
The national security advisor answered. “Mr. President, if they can disrupt our ability to refuel aircraft in flight, they greatly reduce our ability to wage long-range aerial warfare.”
The president said, “Are these attacks ongoing?”
“No, sir, they appear to be put down. It’s too early to say with any confidence, but initial reports are that dozens of Air Force tankers were damaged or destroyed. Possibly more than one hundred.”
“Is that a lot?”
“It’s a lot, sir.”
General Sprague said, “Sir, I need to interrupt. We have another developing situation on the US Pacific coast. In the past thirty minutes, we have rerouted all commercial aircraft to land at non-US divert fields. But some of those commercial aircraft are still headed into the US, and they are unresponsive to communications. NORAD has informed us of some irregularities among these commercial aircraft—”
“What irregularities?”
“Sir, we now believe some of them may actually be Chinese military transports. It looks like they are over Canadian airspace right now.”
The president opened his eyes, his face white. “What?”
The national security advisor said, “Sir, we’ve seen intelligence reports that this type of thing was included in Chinese war plans. Our interceptors will challenge them. If they don’t respond correctly, they will be shot down. General, please keep us apprised.”
“Yes, sir.”
The national security advisor’s voice came over the phone. “Let’s focus on the bigger picture. If we have ballistic mis
siles inbound, we will need to consider a strike on the attacking nation’s strategic missile sites, as well as any known nuclear ballistic missile submarines.”
The president’s chief of staff, sitting beside him in the car, frowned, shaking his head. “What kind of a strike? Tell me you aren’t proposing what I think you are.”
“We need our own nuclear response. That’s what is called for in these situations.”
“In these situations? How many of these situations have you seen? None of us has ever seen this before.”
“Which is exactly why we have protocol. We have preplanned responses for—”
“Oh, don’t give me that bullshit, Tom. Are you insane? Unless I’m mistaken, we know very little with any certainty right now. So you want to fire nuclear weapons? At who, precisely? China? North Korea? Russia? We don’t even know for sure which side of the border that second launch came from. We don’t know how many missiles are in the air. And if there are any, we don’t know where the hell they’re headed.”
The president watched as his chief of staff fumed into the car’s speakerphone. He made a good point, the president thought.
The comms was silent for a moment. Then STRATCOM’s General Sprague said, “We do have some solid data. And we’re getting more in every minute. I’m reading now that from our infrared cameras on the DSP satellites, before they were destroyed, Cheyenne Mountain observed a total of twenty-four objects in the first wave of launches. These were likely launched from North Korea, and the objects had an initial projected trajectory and speed consistent with ICBMs, heading over the Arctic circle. Exact target undetermined. Per our preplanned response, we activated our own ballistic missile defense units in Asia as soon as they launched.”
The president nearly shouted. “What do you mean? Are you saying that we fired back? We fired nuclear weapons already? Without my authorization?”
General Sprague said, “No, sir. Defensive measures only. This was ballistic missile defense. Surface-to-air missiles, if you will, launched from Korea and Japan.”
The president grumbled. “I see.” He felt like he was trapped in a nightmare, unable to control his destiny, and knowing that it was getting worse.
The national security advisor said, “What were the results of the defensive measures, General Sprague?”
“We believe at least a dozen of the objects were shot down, although it could be as many as twenty. We believe that at least four are still airborne. It’s hard to say without all of our sensors operational, sir.”
“So it’s only four?” said the chief of staff, sitting in the car next to the president. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
The president shook his head, dumbfounded. “What the hell does that mean? Four are airborne? We didn’t get them all? What, did we miss or something?”
The general sounded frustrated. “Sir, those numbers are spectacular compared to our tests. Ballistic missile defense is not perfect.”
“Well, excuse me, General, but I would think that’s precisely the kind of thing that should be perfect.”
“Mr. President, this means several ballistic missiles have headed north over the Arctic, but their exact targets are unknown. As we said, our ballistic detection network has been attacked. We don’t know exactly how many missiles are up there, or where they’re going.”
“Well, where the hell do you think they will hit?”
Another barrage of voices, speaking over each other.
The secretary of defense said, “Sir, we need to activate our response.”
“But if North Korea fired that many missiles, that means they expended everything they had. Hell, those things are likely not even going to work.”
“…could hit California or somewhere on the West Coast…”
“…some of the Chinese models could reach as far as the eastern sector of the United States.”
The Secret Service agent in the front of the vehicle called out, “One minute until arrival.” They were almost at Air Force One.
General Rice said, “Sir, I don’t see a nuclear strike on North Korea as beneficial to us. They likely expended their entire nuclear arsenal. But this second wave of missiles worries me. If China and North Korea are acting in concert, the North Korean missiles could have been meant as a diversion tactic. Perhaps to get us to delay long enough for Chinese antisatellite weapons to be used, masking the real attack.”
“Couldn’t Russia have done that too?”
The CIA director’s voice came on the phone. “Sir, ties between Russia and North Korea aren’t as strong. And the geopolitical climate doesn’t suggest Russia would do something like this. China, on the other hand, has been quite belligerent of late.”
The national security advisor said, “I agree. This is Jinshan. Mr. President, we know this.”
The president said, “Gentlemen, we can’t be wrong.”
The national security advisor said, “Sir, respectfully, we also can’t delay. Our military is now engaged in conventional combat operations throughout the Western Pacific, with China. We must assume that China launched ICBMs in that second wave of missile launches. Even if we discount the fact that we are already fighting the Chinese in the Pacific, there are only two countries that have the capability to attack our nuclear attack detection mechanisms. Again, Russia and China. But Jinshan is a known threat. He has made moves to harm our country already. This isn’t hard. Sir, the facts support the case that this is China. We need to strike at them before it’s too late.”
The president leaned back into the cushion of his seat. He was exhausted and not thinking clearly. “General Rice? Do you agree?”
The general said, “They have taken out our early-warning sensors, and our ability to track the ballistic objects. This is the type of thing you would do if you were about to attack with ICBMs. Yes, sir. I agree. It’s China, and the NMCC recommends that we execute our own nuclear response.”
The CIA director said, “We are in the process of confirming a few things on our end. But I also agree. We just received further intelligence that suggests the second wave of missile launches came from the Chinese side of the border, not the Russian side.”
The president said, “What is the intelligence?”
“HUMINT, sir. We feel very strongly that it is accurate.”
The president couldn’t tell who spoke next. But the voice said, “Well, that settles it, then. We need to strike China.”
The car slowed. The president’s chief of staff said, “Gentlemen, we’re about to go offline for a moment.”
The president said, “I’ll make my final decision when I’m on board the plane.”
The Secret Service SUVs came to a quick stop on the tarmac, forming an outward-facing shield, while the president and his party marched onto Air Force One. The behemoth frame of the jet loomed above them, looking menacing with most of its lights off. The VC-25A (the Air Force’s designation for the presidential 747) already had its engines running. The president stepped out onto the concrete flight line, the whine of jet engines spinning up. Dozens of security personnel surrounded him, looking more tense than usual. The outside air had a cool bite to it.
“Why the hell are the lights off?”
“I believe they’re trying to be covert, sir.”
Almost nothing was lit up save for the stairway up to the cabin. “Son of a bitch. Is someone really going to shoot at me on my way onto the plane? I should be so lucky.”
They hurried the president up the stairs. He snuck a glance out over the D.C. skyline, wondering if it would be the last time he saw the white monuments in the distance. Then he was inside the aircraft, the cabin door closed behind him, and the sounds of the world grew muffled. The president and his staff were shown into the Air Force One conference room.
The train of cabinet members and senior staff crammed in. There were only eight seats at the table. Thick, cushiony leather. A single flat-screen on the far wall, and multiple speakerphone devices on the table. A communications compar
tment in the next room was filled with technology and experts who worked feverishly to connect Air Force One with those who could provide accurate information.
Senior staffers who normally would be competing for the president’s time were white-faced and silent. And these were the “lucky” ones. Most had been left behind. Getting the president evacuated even a few seconds sooner was worth more than the life of some staffers. Choices had to be made. Missiles were airborne.
President Griffin rubbed his temples. He looked at the Air Force steward standing in the room. “Cup of coffee, please.” The enlisted woman nodded and headed to the coffeemaker.
Around the conference table were several of the men he had just been speaking to on the phone. The Pentagon’s deputy director for operations, General Rice, the national security advisor, and the secretary of defense. They conversed in short, tense sentences filled with acronyms and military lingo.
“…but we still can’t rule out a Russian response…”
“…a handful of the Chinese air transports may have landed in Canada or the US…”
“…more cyberattacks too—bad ones. Utilities, water purification systems, and transportation servers have all been affected. We just received an alert that several undersea cables have been disrupted.”
“Undersea cables?” the president asked.
“Undersea fiberoptic cables connecting North American communications and data networks with Europe and Asia. Sir, this appears to be a full-scale coordinated attack, originating from the Pacific Theater.”
The room went silent. The president stared at the general. “What’s the status of our military response in the Pacific?”
“In Korea, Japan, and Guam, commanders have informed us that combat operations have begun. Chinese Air Force and Naval forces, as well as North Korean military forces, have commenced military operations directed against the United States and its allies. We have begun fighting back with our forces in theater. However, communications with most assets have been disrupted, and we’re not completely clear on what the current status is.”
A voice emanating from the speaker in the middle of the table said, “Mr. President, STRATCOM has just received indications of multiple nuclear detonations in North Korea…”
