Power Play

CHAPTER 3 WASHINGTON, D.C.

In the backseat of a black sedan speeding down South Capitol Street, National Security Advisor Christine O’Connor sat beside the president’s senior military aide, Marine Corps Colonel Bill DuBose. As their car crossed over the Anacostia River, headed toward Maryland, she opened a folder on her lap and reviewed the outline for today’s meeting. The topic was one she wasn’t looking forward to.

Russia.

America’s war with Russia had been short but intense, and the casualties hadn’t been limited to the soldiers and sailors involved in the conflict. Christine had done her part, a pawn in the effort to checkmate the Russian president, and had paid a price. Since her return to the White House, she hadn’t spoken about what happened to her in Russia; how she’d been handcuffed to a pipe above her head and tormented by the director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service. Christine had provided the details to her CIA debriefers and she was sure the president and his chief of staff had read the report. But thankfully, neither man had brought the topic up.

The cuts around her wrists where the handcuffs had dug into her flesh were hidden by her business suit and blouse sleeves, but the thin slice across her cheek remained faintly visible beneath her makeup. Although no one seemed to notice the scar, she saw it each time she looked in the mirror.

Christine studied the document on her lap, trying to focus on the upcoming meeting. Although the president’s intelligence briefings, which included an update from Christine, were short, it took extensive preparation to generate the condensed nuggets of information presented to the president. Each week, Christine met with representatives from one of America’s sixteen intelligence agencies. She’d asked Colonel DuBose to accompany her today, since today’s meeting would have a military flair — Navy to be exact — as they would be briefed by members of the Office of Naval Intelligence.

Tasked with maintaining a decisive information advantage over America’s adversaries, ONI focused on naval weapons and technology. The read-ahead on Christine’s lap contained the agenda for today’s meeting: an update on the Russian Navy and especially its submarine fleet, which remained a potent threat despite America’s recent victory. Of particular interest was K-561 Kazan, Russia’s newest and most advanced nuclear-powered attack submarine, which had been withheld from the intense battle for some reason.

The sedan pulled to a halt at a guarded gate just off Suitland Parkway, and after security credentials were reviewed, it was waved into the forty-two-acre compound housing the National Maritime Intelligence Center. After the sedan stopped in front of the four-story building, Christine slipped the folder into her leather briefcase and stepped from the car, joined by Colonel DuBose. Waiting inside the lobby was Carmen Aguirre, a senior supervisor in the three-thousand-member organization.

“Good morning, Christine,” Carmen said as they shook hands. “It’s good to see you again.” Her eyes went to the Marine beside Christine.

“Colonel Bill DuBose,” Christine said, “the president’s new senior military aide.”

Carmen escorted Christine and DuBose to a third-floor conference room occupied by eight men and women. Carmen made the introductions, informing Christine that today’s brief would be led by Dave Harrelson and Eric Mason, with the supporting cast present in case additional details were required.

As Christine took her seat at the head of the table with DuBose beside her, Carmen explained, “Dave Harrelson is our senior expert on Russian torpedoes. Eric Mason oversees Russian submarine technology.”

Harrelson was the first to brief, handing classified presentations to Christine and DuBose. “Last week,” Harrelson began, “one of our submarines in the Barents Sea was fortunate enough to witness a Russian torpedo exercise. After reviewing the data, it became clear this wasn’t a normal training exercise. We believe the Russians are testing a new torpedo.”

“Why do you think that?” Christine asked.

“Two reasons. The first is that the target submarine didn’t evade, which means its sole purpose was to serve as a target, and the second is that the Russians employed set-to-hit shots, which means they let the torpedo smash into the target instead of activating the usual safety features. American and Russian exercise torpedoes usually employ a turn-away feature or run the torpedo at a different depth from the target to prevent damage to the torpedo and submarine.

“On occasion, we employ set-to-hit shots to verify the final homing and detonation phases, but only when we’re testing new torpedoes or significant upgrades to our current inventory. Set-to-hit torpedoes have dummy, instrumented warheads so we can verify the exploder mechanism sends the fire signal, with the data sent back to the submarine over the torpedo’s guidance wire.”

Harrelson went on to explain that modern heavyweight torpedoes had thin guidance wires attached to the torpedo while they pursued their target, over which the submarine crew could send new commands and the torpedo could send back target and torpedo data.

“Which gets me to the exciting part,” Harrelson said. “We believe Russia has developed a new torpedo, and we know where it smashed into the target submarine and went to the bottom, which means…” Harrelson paused for effect, and Christine ventured a guess.

“We can retrieve it.”

“Exactly,” Harrelson replied. “We’re coordinating with COMSUBFOR staff, arranging a pickup. USS Jimmy Carter has the requisite equipment, but just entered dry dock for a three-month-long maintenance period. A viable alternative is USS Michigan. The water depth where the Russian torpedo exercise occurred is shallow enough for the SEAL Delivery Vehicle aboard, and the SEALs have buoyancy devices they can use to lift the torpedo from the bottom. The only challenge is finding the torpedo. Fortunately, Russian exercise torpedoes, like American ones, have end-of-run pingers which help locate the torpedo if it goes to the bottom or starts to float away on the surface while it’s waiting to be retrieved. USS Pittsburgh returned to the area where the Russian torpedo went to the bottom and verified that its pinger is operating.

“Michigan should receive orders today. We’re hoping the Russians aren’t interested in retrieving their smashed torpedo or aren’t in a hurry to do so. Once we have it, we’ll send it to one of our undersea warfare centers for analysis.”

Harrelson finished with, “Any questions, Miss O’Connor?”

Christine looked up from her notepad as she finished adding a comment. “I think I understand everything.” She queried Colonel DuBose, who shook his head.

Harrelson turned to Mason. “Eric will discuss a more perplexing issue.”

Eric Mason handed copies of his brief to Christine and Colonel DuBose. “The target submarine in the Russian torpedo exercise took everyone here by surprise. It’s Alexander, the third Yasen class submarine.”

“Why were you surprised?” Christine asked.

“Because Alexander hasn’t been completed yet, or so we thought. Our latest intel indicated she’s at least a year away from completing construction. Then we spotted her pulling into port with her sister ship, Kazan, the day of the torpedo exercise. The Russians must have gone into around-the-clock shiftwork at least two years ago, and they apparently implemented a firm security lockdown because none of our sources near the Sevmash shipyard where Alexander was being built gave us a heads-up. Alexander was also launched in complete secrecy, pulled out from the covered construction facility and launched at night, so we wouldn’t detect the launch via satellite. That begs the questions — why the accelerated construction schedule, and why the secret launch?”

Mason flipped a page on his presentation, revealing a satellite picture of a submarine tied to a pier. “What’s even more interesting is Alexander itself. At first, we didn’t know which class of submarine we were looking at, because it’s sixty feet longer than the two previous Yasen class submarines. Upon close examination, however, we realized it is a Yasen class, except it’s got an extra sixty-foot-long hull section inserted between the reactor and forward compartments.”

“Like Jimmy Carter?” Christine asked, referring to the Seawolf class submarine and its secretive additional compartment.

“That’d be a good analogy,” Mason replied. “But it’s unlikely Alexander is Jimmy Carter’s counterpart. That honor belongs to Podmoskovye, a modified Delta IV. Alexander’s extra compartment isn’t long enough to handle the equipment the Russians have developed for use with its Jimmy Carter version. So why was the hull extended?”

Mason added, “We’ve requested additional reconnaissance satellites be brought to bear on the issue, and we’re pressing on the human intelligence front. The CIA has their hooks into several high-ranking Russian Navy officials, and they’re going to see what they can find out.”

Carmen informed Christine, “This concludes our briefs. Is there anything else we can help you with today?”

Christine spent a few minutes reviewing what remained of the Russian surface navy, which had been devastated by the American task force two weeks earlier, as well as the status of the five aircraft carriers and their escorts participating in the attack. All five carriers had been heavily damaged and only two were currently operational, with the other three on their way back to shipyards for repair.

After the update, Christine asked Colonel DuBose, “Do you have any questions?”

DuBose shook his head. “None from me.”

Christine thanked Harrelson and Mason, along with the others around the table, then turned to Carmen. “Inform me if you discover anything significant about Russia’s new torpedo or modified Yasen class.”