Tiger's Claw

THE WHITE HOUSE SITUATION ROOM

A FEW HOURS LATER

The Situation Room exploded in a storm of shouts and exclamations of disbelief and absolute shock from the civilian attendees; the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Joseph Collingsworth, shot to his feet. “China did what, Mr. President?” he cried. Along with the president, vice president, the secretaries of defense and state, the national security adviser, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, there were a group of senior congressional leaders of both political parties and the chairpersons and ranking members of the congressional military committees in attendance.

“All indications point to precisely that,” President Ken Phoenix said. “A Taiwanese attack submarine wanted to challenge China’s restrictions in the South China Sea; it approached one of China’s aircraft carrier battle groups; it was discovered and was attacked and destroyed with a nuclear depth charge. The yield was less than one kiloton—about one-twentieth the size of the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, and far smaller than the ones launched against our air and ICBM bases in the American Holocaust.”

“This is outrageous!” Diane M. Jamieson, majority leader of the U.S. Senate, exclaimed. Jamieson was the long-serving senator from Nevada who had served on several military committees in both the House and Senate and had as much knowledge of defense matters as almost anyone else in the room. “I don’t care what the yield was, Mr. President—the Chinese are again using nuclear weapons! What have we done in response? What is the DEFCON?”

“Right after we had confirmation that it was a nuclear depth charge, I ordered our forces to DEFCON Three,” Phoenix replied. “Since then we were able to place two more Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines out to sea last night, one in the Pacific and the other in the Atlantic Ocean.” A slide changed on the large electronic monitor at the head of the conference table, showing a map of the world marked with icons for submarines and aircraft. “That makes a total of three ballistic missile subs and one cruise missile sub in the Atlantic, and four ballistic missile subs and one cruise missile sub in the Pacific. In addition, we have three B-2A Spirit stealth bombers and three B-52H Stratofortress bombers, dispersed to various air bases in the continental United States, being loaded now with nuclear gravity and standoff weapons to be placed on around-the-clock alert. The bombers already deployed to Guam only have conventional weapons, but we’re considering arming them with nuclear weapons as well. The aircraft carriers already at sea won’t be loaded with nuclear weapons, but the three that are in port getting ready for deployment can be armed.”

“That’s it?” Jamieson remarked, her blue eyes wide with disbelief. “That’s our nuclear strike force? I know most of our bombers and land-based ballistic missiles were destroyed in the American Holocaust, but where are all the submarines?”

“Normal patrols these days are usually six or seven subs total, split between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, Senator Jamieson,” Secretary of Defense Fredrick Hayes said. “We’re lucky to be able to deploy the other two. The remaining subs are either undergoing maintenance, coming back from patrol, or getting ready to go out on patrol. The ones getting ready for patrol can be accelerated to get them out faster, perhaps in a day or two. Others may take as long as a month.”

“A month?” Joseph Collingsworth blurted out. Although a member of the House of Representatives almost as long as Jamieson, Collingsworth was relatively new to the top leadership position in the House and was not as knowledgeable of military or foreign affairs. “I didn’t realize what a sorry shape our military was.”

“Since we got into office we’ve been pushing for more military spending, primarily in long-range strike and space, Congressman,” Vice President Ann Page said. “But with tax receipts down, unemployment still high, and nondiscretionary spending through the roof, there’s no money available for the military unless other programs get cut first.”

“You can solve this problem right away without cutting entitlement, education, research, and health-care programs, Miss Vice President: raise the marginal top tax rate to what it has been during any period we are at war or needed to raise money for defense or infrastructure; eliminate the Medicare salary cap; and support cap-and-trade carbon emissions legislation,” Senator Jamieson said. “Cap-and-trade alone would raise one hundred billion dollars a year, along with reducing greenhouse gases and encouraging development of antipollution technology.”

“Let’s get back to the issue at hand, ladies and gentlemen,” President Phoenix said, trying very hard not to sound exasperated. “My response to the Chinese use of a nuclear weapon was to raise the DEFCON level, place more nuclear-armed subs and bombers on alert, and prepare other assets such as tactical fighter aircraft and other warships to employ nuclear weapons. I have been in contact with acting president Gao Xudong of China, who explained that former president Zhou had ordered the use of a nuclear weapon but is no longer in charge. This has been verified by our ambassador in Beijing. We also agreed to limit naval activity in the South China Sea to outside the two-hundred-kilometer economic exclusion zone in order to reduce tensions. Any other suggestions?”

“Let’s start with kicking China out of the United Nations Security Council and slapping a trillion-dollar sanction on them!” Senator Jamieson said.

“The ouster of a permanent member of the Security Council requires a unanimous vote of the permanent and temporary members of the Council and a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly,” Secretary of State Kevich said, “and in my opinion Russia would veto. However, Congress could pass a nonbinding resolution to that effect. China has agreed to pay the costs for environmental cleanup, rescue, recovery, and replacing the damaged and destroyed warships.”

“That’s it?” Senator Jamieson asked incredulously. “China sets off a nuke in the South China Sea, and all the United States can do is gear up its scant military forces for war?”

“China has the second-largest economy in the world, Senator,” Phoenix said. “Their GDP is growing while ours is shrinking, and it’s possible that in five years their GDP could surpass ours. They hold twenty percent of U.S. debt, and we import twenty-five percent of what China produces. They have the largest military in the world, and it grows both in numbers and quality every year, while ours shrinks. It’s difficult to fight numbers like that.”

“I never would have believed we’d come to this point,” Jamieson said. “You’re saying we’re powerless to do anything?”

“We’re not powerless,” Phoenix replied. “This is what I want Congress to do: approve my budget, which provides the Department of Defense an additional two hundred billion dollars a year for the next six years. With it I will reactivate the Space Defense Force constellation of space-based weapon platforms to provide the United States with proven, reliable, responsive global strike capability. I will also speed up development of a next-generation long-range bomber force and put the canceled Ford-class supercarriers CVN-79 and -80 back into accelerated production.”

“Your budget, Mr. President?” Jamieson asked derisively. “The budget that eliminates four cabinet-level departments, cuts everyone else’s budgets by twenty percent, and eliminates hundreds of programs meant for education, research, environmental protection, health, and retraining? Your budget was soundly rejected by both houses of Congress, sir. It’s never coming back.”

“It’s the only budget that’s been put on the table, Senator,” Ann said. “Congress hasn’t passed a budget in over five years.”

“When we get a budget that doesn’t force the lower and middle class to pay for military hardware and tax breaks for the rich, Miss Vice President, we will,” Collingsworth said.

The president looked at each of the faces around him, saw no compromise in sight, and nodded. “All right, Majority Leader, Speaker,” he said finally. “I think this situation with China is serious enough that something needs to be done immediately, so I’ll agree to support a temporary ten percent income tax hike . . .” As a smile began to break out on Jamieson’s face the president raised a hand and quickly added, “ . . . on everyone, Senator. Across the board.” The smile began to disappear. “Shared sacrifice, Majority Leader?” Jamieson finally nodded. “And the funds go completely to bolstering defense: long-range strike, aircraft carriers, and military space, all the things we should have been building up over the past five years.”

“And the marginal tax rate, cap-and-trade, and Medicare salary caps?” Collingsworth asked. “The last time we had a large military or infrastructure building program, the marginal top tax rate was seventy percent. A ten percent hike is a good start, but it’s not enough.”

“That discussion we’ll save for some other time,” the president said, a touch of weariness in his voice. “Do we have a deal, Miss Majority Leader, Mr. Speaker?”

The two congressional leaders looked at each other, and their eyes said it all: they had finally gotten the president to go back on his pledge not to increase taxes—he was toast in the next election. Jamieson turned to the president and nodded. “We have a deal, Mr. President,” she said.

“Good. If there are no other suggestions on what we might do with China, I’d like to thank you for coming. Please remember all the information I’ve passed along to you today is classified secret and is not to be released to the public in any way. Thank you again.” Phoenix got to his feet, and the others did likewise. He shook hands with each member of Congress and his national security staff, then departed, followed by Ann Page.

Back in the Oval Office, the president poured himself a cup of coffee and sat at his desk, staring out the windows. “Do you believe Jamieson and Collingsworth?” Ann asked behind him. “China sets off a nuke in the South China Sea and shoots down two American aircraft with a microwave weapon, and all they want to do is argue over entitlement spending and cap-and-trade? They control both houses of Congress, but they still can’t agree on a damn thing!”

“They’re ideological partisan politicians with a strong progressive agenda, Ann,” the president said. “National defense is not high on their priority list except as a big chunk of the budget they hope to raid to pay for other programs. The South China Sea might as well be on the planet Mars.”

“We should have talked before you agreed on a tax hike, sir,” Ann said. “We both pledged never to raise taxes. The other side is going to rake us over the coals for that.”

“I know, I know, campaign season starts up soon, and I’m starting it by going back on a promise,” Phoenix said. “But when the world finds out that China used a nuclear weapon again, the United States won’t be the only country building its military. I’m just relieved Jamieson agreed to earmark the new income for defense—that’s huge for her.” The president remained silent for several long moments, sipping his coffee. Then he spoke: “Leak it.”

“Excuse me, Mr. President?”

“Leak it,” Phoenix repeated. “Leak a few of the details of the Chinese nuclear depth charge, long-range antiship missiles, and the high-power microwave weapon. Do it over a period of a few weeks. Refuse to comment on reports from foreign media outlets or blogosphere rumors, but acknowledge to a few outlets that we’re looking into these reports.”

“Aren’t you afraid of creating a panic, Ken?” Ann asked. “Once folks learn China set off a nuclear warhead in the South China Sea and can hit a ship with a missile hundreds of miles over the horizon, trade through that area will disappear. No shipping company in their right mind will sail a cargo vessel or tanker through the South China Sea. A third of the goods that travel by sea go right through that region.”

“Yes, I realize that,” Phoenix said quietly. He turned to Ann. “Congress won’t act because they’re not focusing on the military threat from China—everyone thinks we’re linked so tightly together that there’s no threat against the United States from China. But the United States was linked with Japan just as tightly until Japan invaded China in 1937 and we cut off oil and steel exports to Japan in 1941, which resulted in the Pearl Harbor attack. If there’s a panic, it won’t be because we leaked some information—it’ll be because China attacked foreign warships and aircraft and wants to turn the South China Sea into their own private lake.”

Ann Page studied the president for a few moments. “You’ve changed over the past few weeks, Ken,” she said finally. “You’re still the same president, but . . . the man has changed, I think. You’re silently getting pissed off at all the antics being pulled off around the world, and you want so badly to do something about it, but you don’t quite have all the tools . . . yet. So you’re pissed off.”

Phoenix looked at his vice president for a long few moments, then shrugged and asked, “So?”

“So nothing,” Ann said, smiling. “I like it. I like pissed off.”