The President scanned the attendees seated around the table. He could easily see the tense atmosphere in the room on the serious, silent faces of the officials sitting around the long rectangular table: the crisis with the Soviet Union, which had started out of the blue, was rapidly escalating.
“I guess we’ll be spending some time together in this room in the coming hours and over the next few days”, the President opened the emergency meeting. “Secretary Manning has just briefed me on the nuclear explosion in the North Sea. I must tell you that I’m not satisfied with what you’ve given me so far. You’ve given me a list of unknowns, including today’s unknowns. What exactly am I supposed to do with them? Should I write myself intelligence assessments? Can any one of you stand up and tell me why half of the Red Army is deployed at the East German border? And what the heck was this nuclear explosion in the middle of nowhere?”
The President paused, looking around at the people listening to his every word.
“In addition to all this, two hours ago, the Communist Party General Secretary looked into the face of our Ambassador in Moscow, one might say at the whites of his eyes, saying, ‘Tell your President that we will not attack you’. So tell me, what’s going on here, for heaven’s sake? Secretary Manning, how are the military deployed since the alert was raised to DEFCON 2?”
Defense Secretary Manning glanced quickly at General John Abramson, who nodded to him. The Secretary replied to the President directly.
“Mister President, General John Abramson, who is being constantly briefed from the field, will give an update on the actions carried out so far.”
General Abramson rose on his feet and walked to a large map which covered an entire wall.
“Mister President, all of our forces, both here at home and everywhere on the globe, are at the highest alert. This means that all leaves are cancelled and we’ve started a partial call-up of the reserves. We’ve stopped all training activities. All the units of our Armed Forces are now filling their personnel vacancies and replenishing their stocks of equipment and ordnance. In Europe, all our forces have left their bases and are deploying in their battle positions on the field. The Strategic Air Command has armed all our four hundred bombers, and they are ready to take off at very short notice. A great part of our ninety-strong assault submarine fleet is en route to their battle and launch positions across the oceans. From this point, we cannot raise our level of readiness any higher. From this point, the next stage is actual combat.
“Regarding the intentions of the Red Army, I will present the view of both the CIA and Military Intelligence. There is a consensus among all of our intelligence agencies. We are united in believing that the present Soviet deployment around East Germany is not intended for handling any internal problem there. This is without doubt a force that was assembled to attack our defense lines in West Germany, and perhaps even to continue deeper into Western Europe. So much for the deployed force and its capabilities. The main question here is intent. Namely, will they really start up their engines and begin moving towards us? Here, one must understand that the Russians know very well what we also know for a fact, that they have a great numerical advantage over us and over NATO in general, in the number of tanks, in the number of armored personnel carriers, in artillery guns and in almost any other parameter. Therefore, they know that the only option that we have for stopping these swarms of armored divisions is solely the use of tactical nuclear weapons. That is also the reason why they have not acted against us until now.”
President Butler impatiently interrupted General Abramson, the Commander-in Chief, the most senior officer of the Armed Forces, who reported directly to him.
“I don’t understand where you’re heading, John. Everything you’ve said so far is well known. You haven’t explained what is different about this week’s situation and why they are about to attack now. Why aren’t they afraid now, that we’ll use nuclear weapons to stop them? Why is this week different from last week? I just don’t get it.”
A uniformed naval officer entered the room. He saluted the President and requested his permission to deliver an urgent telegram to General Abramson. The Chief of the Joint Staff read the telegram quickly and turned to the President.
“Mister President, we sent several maritime patrol aircraft and naval vessels to the area east of the nuclear explosion, trying to intercept those responsible for the explosion on their way back to northern Russia”, he said, holding the telegram.
“Mister President, I will now read the message that I’ve just received; it is a message that was broadcast on Radio Moscow five minutes ago. The message begins; The Soviet General Secretary announced on the radio that an American bomber had launched a nuclear cruise missile towards the port city of Murmansk. A Russian destroyer, which happened to be in the area, detected the missile and shot it down with cannon fire, and the missile exploded. All 247 men aboard the destroyer were killed in the blast. They gave their lives to save at least three hundred thousand men and women, children and babies in the city of Murmansk. The Soviet Armed Forces have been placed at the highest alert and they will respond in kind to the American aggression. That’s the end of the Radio Moscow message. I assume that in the next few minutes, we’ll also receive our intelligence agencies’ assessment of this bizarre announcement.”
The President hit the table with his fist and leapt to his feet in frustration.
“And this is the General Secretary who looked our Ambassador in the eye and assured him that they wouldn’t attack? So what now? Are you going to ask for two more days to analyze this Soviet Secretary’s fantasy? Go do your homework. You said there were also some findings in the North Sea relating to the explosion? Then let’s meet here in ninety minutes. I also want to hear what our Soviet experts have to say, as I understand that I can’t get any answers about their intentions from you military folk.”
“Mister President”, said CIA director George Brown, “I’d like a private word with you. It won’t take more than two minutes.”
“Come with me”, the President replied curtly and hurried out of the Situation Room, followed by the CIA director. Only the security officials remained in the room, looking forlorn and embarrassed. The President instructed his three Secret Service men to keep their distance.
“Why didn’t you speak up in the meeting, George?” asked the President. “Is it possible that even my CIA director doesn’t know what the Russians have in store for us?”
“I’ll have new information by the next meeting. There are quite a few developments right now, Sir. Mister President I request your special approval in light of this situation, and especially because of the ambiguity surrounding us here, to activate the Raven.”
The President mulled this over, running his fingers through his hair.
“As I remember, and correct me if I’m wrong, you told me at the time that the Raven is an extremely senior source at the Kremlin. If we activate the Raven, it may be assumed that the information passed on to us will expose this person. Is that right?”
“That’s correct, Mister President. That’s why we decided in advance that the Raven should be activated only when we face real danger, and even then, it would require your prior approval.”
“Well, I think we have no choice. We are facing real danger, and none of my generals can explain the reason for this danger. Okay, George, activate the Raven.”
The President strode away from the CIA director, his security detail rushing to catch up with him.
The Four-Engine Orion P-3 Maritime Patrol Aircraft flew back and forth over the North Sea, northwest of Norway. The pilots had been unequivocally instructed to keep away from the west because of the active radiation which had been detected in the blast area. From time to time, the airborne Geiger counter emitted beeps attesting to the presence of radiation in their immediate surroundings, but these were not at a magnitude that could endanger the air crew.