“Yeah, well good luck with that,” said Lannis with disdain.
“I just want justice, that’s all,” George shot back. “There’s a basic unfairness when the U.S. and other Western countries are forced to live in fear of terrorists, but cannot use our most potent and lethal weapons against them. Terrorists can attack the U.S. with a nuke, and we can’t respond in kind because we don’t know where to strike; they don’t have a country or even a part of a country we could hit in retaliation. Remember the good old days of the Cold War, Buffalo, when the MAD doctrine kept the world at peace for fifty years?”
Buffalo looked at George. Oh no, here we go again. “Yeah,” Buffalo responded so that George could preach to Lannis. “Mutually Assured Destruction. Kind of has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Those were the days when it meant something to serve on a boomer.”
“It sure did,” said George, taking his lead from Buffalo. “In my opinion, of the three legs of the U.S.’s strategic defense triad — land-based ICBMs, long-range strategic bombers, and ballistic missile submarines — the submarine force played the primary role in deterring nuclear attack during the Cold War. Missile silos and air force bases could be destroyed in a nuclear first strike, but boomers patrolling in secret locations could not. It was clearly the survivability of our boomers that kept the ‘Assured’ in the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction.”
“Well, MAD is dead,” said Buffalo matter-of-factly. “Teats on a boar hog.”
“Not entirely,” Lannis responded. “We still have enemies or potential enemies out there who could hit us with long-range ballistic missiles. What about China and North Korea? Our boomers are still a deterrent for those guys.”
Buffalo responded, “Well North Korea hasn’t shown they can really do it yet, and China is more of an economic rather than a military adversary now. The Chinese economy has mutated to one with more and more capitalism and free enterprise over the years. They’re becoming communist in name-only in a lot of ways.”
“Yeah, MAD is dead all right,” George continued undaunted, “because political correctness prevents our country’s leaders from acknowledging what is really going on — a holy war between radical Islamists and the rest of the world. For MAD to work today, we would have to announce that in response to any terrorist attack with a weapon of mass destruction, we would target our nuclear weapons on something really valuable to the radicals — something so precious, the threat of its destruction would back them down.”
“Like what?” asked Lannis sarcastically.
“Well, the only thing they consider precious is their religion; so maybe if Muslim holy sites and major Muslim cities were targeted then we might get their attention.”
“That’ll never happen,” ventured Buffalo.
“I know,” said George. “Our own fanatical belief in freedom of religion prevents us from targeting any particular religious group, even when the basic teachings of that group are counter to religious freedom. Besides that, we probably have too many Muslims in the U.S. already for our leaders to get away with it. U.S. citizens are perfectly free to convert to Islam, and millions have. In addition, our liberal immigration policies have allowed millions more Muslims to legally enter the U.S. on a permanent basis. So a MAD policy directed toward Muslim holy sites would probably cause a second civil war, most likely carried out by millions of so-called peaceful Muslims using terrorist tactics throughout the country.”
“Yeah, well it’s easy to point out problems,” said Lannis as he started back to his office. “When you have a solution,” he called out over his shoulder, “let me know.”
The SUBLANT staff filed into the large, semi-darkened briefing room, and the officers took their seats around a configuration of tables arranged to form one large U-shaped table. Whenever the briefing began, Admiral Yates would sit in the center of the base of the U with his officers distributed around him and down each side of the table. The enlisted staff members, including Petty Officer Harris, sat in a row of chairs behind the officers. A presenter’s podium was positioned facing the admiral, between the far ends of the table at the top of the U. Next to the podium was a large screen where a projector, suspended from the ceiling, would project computer-generated slides and other visual aids prepared by each presenter. A few of the staff members made small talk as they waited for Admiral Yates, but most looked over their notes, preparing mentally for the briefing. Finally, the admiral entered the room, and they all jumped to attention as his aide called, “Attention on deck!”
“Seats, everyone,” said the admiral, taking his seat at the head of the conference table facing the podium. “Let’s get started.” At six feet and 175 pounds, Admiral Rowdy Yates was in excellent physical condition. He personified the classic description “lean and mean,” but he encouraged all his staff to keep themselves “lean and agile.” His short-cropped hair — much shorter than required by navy regulations — made George think the admiral would have been better suited for the Marine Corps. He was a no-nonsense leader — the picture of efficiency. He ran a tight ship, and that included a fast-paced, well-choreographed briefing.
Intel went first in order to present background information, current events, a threat assessment, and the current disposition of known submarines in the Atlantic.
George watched Lannis strut to the podium. Here we go! Lannis is about to get skewered and fried!
“Good morning, Admiral,” Lannis began. “Given the urgency of what we all know has transpired with the new videotape from al-Qaeda, may I suggest that we change the order of the briefing today and move straight to Ops — since time is of the essence in passing our response plan to higher authority?”
George almost laughed out loud, but stifled it with some degree of difficulty. How could anyone be stupid enough to get up at the admiral’s briefing and tell Admiral Yates he should change the briefing order? George glanced over at Buffalo who, like all the other members of the staff, seemed to be in total shock, looking at the admiral as if waiting for a volcano to erupt.
Holy cow! This time the admiral’s going to give it to him right up the…
“Good idea, Commander Wayne,” said Admiral Yates. “Let’s get Ops out of the way so Commander Adams can get things moving while we finish up the briefing.”
George couldn’t believe his ears. He was flabbergasted! He clumsily grabbed for his notes, which were spread out over the table in front of him, and muttered, “Aye-aye, sir.” George unsurely made his way to the podium. As he passed Lannis, George swore he saw a smirk on Lannis’s face.
“Uh… good morning, Admiral,” George began. “We have all heard the news that al-Qaeda has released another videotape, this time threatening to hit the U.S. with one or more nuclear weapons. For our part, we’ll concentrate on a plan to increase the number of sub patrols off the coast. We’ll maximize the number by accelerating some maintenance activities and getting as many attack boats on station as we can muster. We may also…”
The admiral interrupted George and asked, “How do we think they’re going to get this weapon into the country?”
“Uh,… I have no idea, Admiral,” George stammered.