The amount of government spending required to recreate the equivalent of Washington’s massive bureaucracy would be an enormous boost to Pennsylvanians during the recovery effort, as well as the local contractors who’d been longtime donors of the president.
The interim facilities for the new location of government, the Carlisle Barracks, had been an immediate beneficiary of the Helton administration. He’d directed $85 million to build new facilities at the home of the U.S. Army War College after he took office. In addition to upgrading and expanding the second-oldest army installation dating back to 1745, the president had redirected funds from another base in Florida to Carlisle Barracks. The money had been earmarked to harden the base’s wiring and electronics from the crippling effects of an EMP.
At the moment, the five-hundred-acre campus of the Army War College would suffice for the basic functions of the federal government. He envisioned Congress relocating to Carlisle temporarily so that the government could once again be together.
Military bases around the country in close proximity to existing FEMA regional offices were used as part of the recovery process. Each cabinet secretary named an undersecretary for assignment to the ten FEMA regions. These undersecretaries coordinated with the military to ensure compliance with the declaration of martial law.
It would take years to rebuild the American government, but at least he had the mechanism to do so. Now it was time to focus on those who would stand in the way of his recovery plan. He would hear first from Erin Bergmann, secretary of Agriculture.
“Good morning, Mr. President,” Erin began. She’d been a regular at the president’s daily briefings. Behind her back, other cabinet members referred to her as the doomsayer, a person who often spoke of foreboding predictions of an impending calamity.
“Good morning, Erin. Got any good news today?”
The president’s jovial mood continued, albeit somewhat sarcastically. He, too, was tiring of the gloomy predictions. His overall demeanor was boosted in part from the power he’d gained by the martial law declaration and the antidepressants he was being fed by the White House physician.
His insolent question created stifled chuckles by some members of the cabinet. He glanced at his most loyal advisors, who shared his opinion of Erin. In not so many words, he’d let it be known that Erin, who’d opposed martial law as inconsistent with the intent of the Constitution, would soon be returned to Florida when he relocated the government to Pennsylvania. For now, Erin, and her gloomy updates, were a necessary evil.
Erin bristled at his question. She had no intention of sugarcoating the dire consequences of the nuclear conflict just to curry favor with the president, as most in the room had. If he wanted to replace her and kick her out of Mount Weather, so be it. She was certain she could find a bungalow on a tiny key in Florida, where she could live out her days. She thought about Hank Albright constantly, even asking military officials about how the Florida Keys had been affected by the environmental impact of nuclear war. Until she was no longer included in the briefings or kicked out of Mount Weather, she’d do her job, even if it wasn’t what the president wanted to hear.
“Sir, the basic assumption during any nuclear conflict has been that the exploding nuclear warheads would create huge fires, resulting in soot from burning cities and forests. This toxic cloud of smoke is emitted in vast amounts and blends with our clean air.
“Based upon climatology models, it was presumed the troposphere, which starts at the Earth’s surface and extends five to nine miles high, would bear the brunt of the pollution, if you will. Those prior models understated the effect.
“The models considered only a limited nuclear conflict under the assumptions the warring nations would stand down before completely annihilating one another. None that I am aware of modeled multiple conflicts across the Northern Hemisphere.
“NOAA has provided us evidence to the effect that the lower levels of the stratosphere have been permeated with the smoke and soot. Similar to the models associated with the eruption of a supervolcano, the Sun’s incoming radiation has been blocked from reaching the planet’s surface, causing a more rapid cooling of temperatures than ever imagined.
“Due to their high temperatures, this rising smoke and soot have allowed the dirty air to drift at these high altitudes. It’s now settling in the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere as a black particle cloud belt, blocking sunshine for an indeterminate amount of time.”
The president raised his hand to stop Erin from continuing. “There has to be a point at which the atmosphere clears. Have you run models to give us some kind of reasonable time frame?”
“Yes, Mr. President. NASA and NOAA scientists have developed a predictive model that points to an eight-to-twelve-year time frame in which we get some relief.”
“Not back to normal?” he asked.
Erin nodded. She was expecting this line of questioning. Everyone wanted to know when it would be over. “No, sir. They wouldn’t commit to when our skies would resemble what we enjoyed pre-attack.”
“Okay, Erin. If we don’t know when we can expect blue skies again, can you at least tell me when we’ll bottom out? When can we point to a date and tell the American people the worst of it is behind us?”
Erin grimaced and glanced around the room. She was about to add to her reputation as the doomsayer. “Following the rapid series of attacks, the ensuing darkness and cold, combined with nuclear fallout, have begun to kill much of the Earth’s vegetation in the Northern Hemisphere. We’re receiving reports of wildlife dying out either from starvation or hunters in search of food.”
“We have a plan for the latter,”
