China’s using a uniquely American warhead presented them with several obvious advantages.
To ensure that the goal was reached of putting the warheads on the several targets at coordinated times, and because the Chinese leadership was too smart to teach terrorists, or their erstwhile allies in the DPRK, how to target the missiles, Colonel Li had been provided from the Second Artillery Corps to perform the final guidance and targeting tasks.
The North Korean dictator had been pleased to do his large friends to the north a favor. When China asked if they could be of assistance in helping him sell six of his missiles by providing nuclear warheads and up-rated guidance systems, and a customer, the DPRK dictator was more than happy to oblige. He needed the cash, and the warheads simply increased the price he could charge.
12
Washington, DC
Thursday, 11 April, 12:35 hours GMT (08:35 Local)
President Mike Hopkins looked around the table in the Cabinet Room, catching the eye of each of the six others present. They were finalizing the statements and discussion points with which each would be involved in the dinner this evening with the Chinese premier.
Hopkins was tall, with dark hair and dark eyes. At 54 years of age, he was young for the Presidency. West Point, a combat command in Kuwait during Desert Storm, discharged and back home, he had decided to move into politics. He rose quickly through the political ranks in his home state, moving from State Senator to Governor in record time. Tall, trim and energetic enough for the campaigning and responsibilities, and both experienced and egotistical enough to know he had something to offer, he had thrown his hat into the Presidential ring. As in the rest of his political life, he had succeeded.
The terror attack in late October on American soil, quickly dubbed the “election attack,” had sealed the fate of his predecessor; a rather cold, lackadaisical man whom many Americans had decided was not at all interested in the safety or economic future of the country. The attack proved to even more Americans they had been right.
Overnight the polls had changed to show Hopkins moving from ten points down to thirty points up, and he had won an electoral wipe-out. And now he immersed himself in the long, slow task of undoing the policies that had gotten his predecessor fired by the American electorate and getting the government out of the way of the American economy, and in the way of America’s enemies.
Terrorist training camps in South America. Thousands of people murdered every year by Mexican drug cartels on both sides of the US-Mexico border, violence that neither America nor Mexico seemed able or willing to stop. An economy just beginning its recovery after the “election attack.” The problems facing him were many and varied.
Around the table in the Cabinet Room sat Secretary of State Richard Dawson, Secretary of Defense Dan Caldwell, Vice President Charles Flanagan, Secretary of Commerce Shari Striplin, Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security Mary Berglund, National Security Advisor Carol Kleinen, and Director of Central Intelligence Bob Shafer.
The meeting with the Chinese premier tonight had been requested only a month ago, and the date requested had been quite firm. Because it was China, Hopkins had agreed.
In requesting this meeting, Premier Fang had explained to Hopkins the loss of income suffered by China, and the setback to its modernization plans whenever an attack like the “election attack” occurred: Americans simply stopped spending. The Chinese economy always took a huge hit, his modernization plans came to a halt and millions of his countrymen remained in poor, rural environments, rather than being moved to the cities and modern jobs in China’s ongoing modernization.
Premier Fang wanted to know what the new President was going to do to ensure that America remained a reasonable place for him to invest his nation’s money, and what he was doing to ensure it was not attacked again. Hopkins agreed to the discussions and added the topic of China’s growing investment in resources in African countries, and the concern of the West that locking-up these resources might not be good for global markets, as well as a concern about what the media were beginning to label ‘Chinese imperialism.’
The problem vexing the president and his staff this morning, in addition to planning for the discussions at dinner, was that the terror chatter on the internet, and in NSA radio and telephone intercepts, was increasing across-the-board and around the world.
Waiting for the President to get started, defense secretary Caldwell looked across the Cabinet table at Secretary Berglund of the Department of Homeland Security. He still wasn’t comfortable with that name. Why did Congress do that? America already had a Department of Defense – and wasn’t that responsible for, umm, defense?
It seemed obvious to Caldwell that, when you wanted to go to war, well, you called it that. After all, America never had lost a war when it was called the ‘Department of War’. The tradition of losing wars – at best, of not winning them - began in Korea, the first war following the renaming of the ‘Department of War’ to the ‘Department of Defense’ by the 1947 National Security Act, that seemed, in retrospect, only to have decreased America’s security.
This new and uncomfortable tradition then continued through Vietnam, Somalia, almost Iraq, and though it seemed that Afghanistan was “won,” whatever that meant nowadays, you never could be sure.
What did these conflicts have in common? All were military conflicts occurring after the Department of War had been renamed, after the last time America actually waged war, real war, rather than limited combat engagements, to accomplish – or to try to accomplish – national goals. And now defending the nation became the job of some department with the hoked-up name of “Homeland Security.” Crap, he thought, why not call things by their right name?
“Well,” Hopkins began, “so much for the Middle East and Africa. I think we are prepared on those. What about South America? Did you tell me we have things going on down there we need to discuss with the Chinese, Richard?” he asked his Secretary of State.
“Mr. President,” Dawson responded, “We still are working to get a handle on the large numbers of terrorist training camps in South America. At these bases local guerrillas, socialist revolutionaries, cocaine cartel militias, and Islamist terrorists are trained.”
Secretary Dawson nodded to Defense Secretary Caldwell, “Secretary Caldwell has more detailed information, Mr. President.”
“An interesting observation over the past four months, Mr. President,” said Caldwell, “has been that while the instructors once came from various countries, China is now running all the camps of which we are aware. There seems to have been a change of command of some type. We don’t know if this was due to money or promises or what, nor if other camps exist of which we are unaware, though we don’t think so.”
President Hopkins studied Caldwell a moment and then asked, “Is the rate of Chinese involvement increasing since we last spoke of this, Dan?”
“It seems to be. In fact, we are not sure any camps are non-Chinese at this point.”
“Really?” Hopkins asked, intrigued.
“Yes, Sir. But they seem to have stopped opening any new camps. In fact they have closed several, which we find interesting. But they have enlarged a number of them, as well as, uh, well, displaced the previous trainers.”
“Displaced?” asked Hopkins.
Caldwell looked at him a long moment. “Killed. Using them as targets for knife-fighting demonstrations and live-fire training and exercises. The terrorists, as far as we can tell, don’t seem to mind. They seem to appreciate the, um, additional realism.”
Hopkins thought a moment and replied. “I’ll probably want to address this with Premier Fang.” He thought quietly for a moment.