“Homeland Security issued a code red terror warning for Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area, sir,” Chamberlain said, reading the notes passed to him by an aide. “Two National Guard armories in Pennsylvania and Maryland and the Marine Corps base at Quantico had quantities of weapons and vehicles stolen recently, and two FBI agents were found bludgeoned to death at one of the National Guard armories. The Pentagon is setting THREATCON Delta and the Secret Service is recommending the same for all government buildings, including the White House. The thefts fit the same pattern as just prior to the attack on San Francisco.”
“Oh, my God…”
“The problem is, there are so many Guard and Reserve units deployed around the city that it’s hard to tell which ones are the real ones and which are bogus,” Chamberlain went on, “so Secretary Calhoun decided to call a Code Red until everything can be straightened out. Unfortunately, that means evacuating the leadership, sir. I hope you concur.”
“I most certainly do not concur, Robert!” the President said. “I am not going to evacuate the capital just on a suspicion of danger!”
“Sir, I don’t think that’s wise,” Chamberlain said. “Victoria?”
“I agree with the President—there’s no concrete reason he should evacuate right now,” Chief of Staff Collins said. “We don’t have troops stationed around the White House, for God’s sake! If we did, it would be active-duty forces, and they’d be properly vetted. This is nonsense, Robert…!”
“It’s not nonsense. It’s prudent and wise. We should…”
“I’m sorry, Robert, but I’m not leaving the White House,” the President said firmly. “I’m going to monitor the situation in the West Wing. If anything happens we’ll go to the Situation Room and we’ll put the contingency evacuation plan into effect. But I’m not leaving the White House unless there’s an attack in progress.”
“This is insane!” Harold Kingman exclaimed. “What in hell is going on?”
“Relax, Harold, this is just a precaution,” the President said. “You’re perfectly safe here in the White House.”
“Your confidence in your people is reassuring, Sam, but I’d prefer my own security forces, if you don’t mind.”
The President looked at his primary Secret Service escort, who immediately shook his head. “Let’s wait until the situation stabilizes before you run off, Harold,” the President said. “Watch my boys in action. You’ll be impressed.” Kingman was obviously still not convinced, but he fell silent and allowed himself to be hustled down the corridors to the West Wing of the White House.
No one at all challenged the convoy of two Humvees and a military tractor-trailer as it made its way south on Interstate 95 through Maryland to the District of Columbia. The military convoy raced down Interstate 95 at speeds sometimes exceeding seventy miles an hour. Upon reaching Exit 27 in the southbound lane near Powder Mills, Maryland, just before reaching the Beltway, the convoy stopped—right in the middle of the freeway. Traffic immediately began backing up behind it, and soon traffic in the northbound lane slowed to a crawl as “rubber-neckers” strained to see what was going on. One Humvee in the convoy went on ahead and blocked access to the southbound freeway from the Capital Beltway on-ramp, while a second Humvee unloaded three soldiers and then covered the mounting traffic behind them in the southbound lane. A few cars that were already too close to the convoy were allowed to pass, but all others were kept at least a kilometer away.
While the Humvees set up a perimeter, the crews on the tractor-trailer in the middle of the convoy removed the chains holding an M270 Multiple Rocket Launcher System to the trailer and drove the vehicle off. It maneuvered in front of the tractor and turned. Two soldiers got into the fire control cab, while two others stood guard outside. The crowds on the northbound side of the freeway started to leave their vehicles—they were stopped anyway in what had quickly become an immense parking lot—and stood by the guardrails to watch.
The rocket platform on the M270 soon swiveled until the launcher was facing south-southwest, and soon the onlookers saw the platform elevate. A few of those watching applauded, and one of the soldiers in the cab waved. Police sirens off in the distance sounded like they were getting closer, and a few onlookers got back in their cars although the traffic jam, now over a kilometer long in both directions, wasn’t moving at all. This was a pretty unusual demonstration, all right, but this was the District of Columbia, some thought; they were pretty close to the Naval Surface Weapons Center, and maybe these guys had broken down. Maybe the military guys had to practice doing things like…
Suddenly there was a tremendous fwoooosh! and a huge cloud of smoke, and five rockets ripple-fired off the M270 and streaked toward the capital. The launcher platform turned and elevated once again and a few seconds later another four-round salvo flew off into the distance. Then, as casually as if they were street performers just finishing a juggling act, the soldiers got out of the cab of the M270, loaded up into the Humvees, and drove off at high speed onto the Capital Beltway, abandoning the empty M270 and its tractor-trailer on the freeway.
The first salvo of rockets landed just south of The Mall between Fourteenth and Fifteenth Streets south of the Washington Monument, right along Independence Avenue, hitting just outside the Department of Agriculture Building and the Auditor’s Building. The second salvo landed along Seventeeth Street northwest of the White House near the New Executive Office Building, with one rocket making a direct hit. Fires erupted almost instantly from natural gas leaks and burning vehicles.
The attacks did very little actual damage and did not hit the White House or any strategic or tactically important sites, but the fear and confusion factors were enormous. First responders reported the gas leaks as a chemical weapon attack and stayed away from the impact areas; panicked citizens clogged the streets, adding to the confusion. Soon the entire western Mall area was closed off as government buildings were evacuated and the streets filled with terrified citizens, confused politicians and government workers, and helpless police and firefighters.
The attacks had one purpose: slow or stop any response from the two army bases in the Military District of Washington whose responsibility it was to respond to attacks in the capital region: Fort McNair in the District of Columbia, and Fort Myer adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. Fort Myer was the headquarters of the Third U.S. Infantry Regiment, the Old Guard, the unit specifically tasked with defending and protecting the capital. Although the Old Guard’s day-to-day duties were mostly ceremonial, including providing honor guards at Arlington National Cemetery, marching in parades, and wearing Revolutionary War–era costumes in welcoming ceremonies for foreign dignitaries, the Old Guard’s primary mission was as a light infantry unit capable of defending the capital against attack, insurrection, or riots. Fort McNair is the home of First Battalion, Alpha Company, called the Commander in Chief’s Guard, an army rifle company specifically trained to respond to threats to the White House and Capitol; it also had several military police units capable of deploying in support of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Special Tactics Branch.
The MRLS attacks would not stop the Old Guard or the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia for very long, but it didn’t have to—the second and third phases of the attack on the Capital were already underway.
Two convoys of four Humvees left hiding places in Anacostia and traveled across the Anacostia River, one convoy taking the South Capitol Street Bridge and the other taking the Interstate 295 bridges to the Frontage Road off-ramp to Twelfth Street. Police and firefighters did not stop either convoy—the Capitol Street convoy even had a police escort for several blocks. Once on surface streets, both convoys made it to The Mall, then traveled westbound on Madison and Jefferson Drives, going off the paved roads if necessary to circumnavigate traffic and fleeing panicked pedestrians now clogging the streets and parks. Once at the Washington Monument, the two convoys headed north, one on Fifteenth Street and the other on Seventeenth Street, again going around traffic or obstructions by simply going onto the park itself—the Humvees even cleared curbs and short one meter walls with ease. They raced up through The Ellipse with National Park Police looking on in amazement before reaching for radios to report the military vehicles heading toward the White House.