somebody needs to tell you to put aside your fear and queasiness and do your fucking job.”
“All right, that’s enough,” the President interjected. “This is no time to be sniping at each other.” The President picked up the intercom and spoke to the pilot, and in fifteen minutes they were on the ground at Houston-Hobby Field. After a few more meetings with military, state, and federal investigation, security, and disaster relief officials aboard Air Force One, the President and his staff were airborne once again, heading back to Washington.
Aboard Air Force One, the President and his advisers were assembled in the large conference room. Only Chamberlain and Collins were with the President—the rest of the Cabinet and military advisers were present via secure video teleconference, dispersed to various safe Continuity of Government locations around the northeast and mid-Atlantic region for their security. The President first turned to General Charles Lanier, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Update on our defense response, General?”
“Fully implemented, sir,” Lanier replied. “Complete shutdown of all major civil and commercial air, sea, and land gateways. Full mobilization underway of all National Guard and Reserve units to help secure the borders, ports, petro-gas facilities, chemical plants, and major utilities. All current air and coast defense units are on full alert, and we’re adding three new air, coastal, or border defense units per day. In less than two weeks we’ll be on full wartime continental defense configuration. We’ve gotten an average of one thousand new enlistments per hour since Kingman City in active, Reserve, and Guard branches, and there’s no letup. The American people are responding like nothing we’ve seen since World War Two.”
“Everyone is going through normal background screening and training though, correct, General?” Chamberlain asked.
“Yes, of course,” Lanier responded. “Our backlogs are long but we’re ramping up and increasing our capability every day. We’re not cutting corners, just increasing capacity, slowly but surely.”
“Good. What about inspection routines?”
“Ramping up slowly but surely as well, sir,” Lanier said. “Reserve Forces units are working with Homeland Security agencies to set up one hundred percent cargo inspections.”
“Donna?”
“We’re already up to eighty percent of all air cargo and twenty percent of all sea cargo being inspected before entry,” Secretary of Homeland Security Donna Calhoun responded via video. “There’s a tremendous backlog of containers, but many shipments were stopped after Kingman City, so the disruption was already mitigated. I’m thankful for the quick Reserve Forces mobilization.”
“George?”
“Same with the prosecutors and the FBI,” Attorney General George Wentworth said. “We’re getting thousands of applicants for positions and lots of retired and former employees returning every day. The offices are bursting at the seams and it looks like total chaos out there, but the people are hunkering down and getting the job done. Everyone knows we’re under attack now, and they’re doing everything they can to help. I want to congratulate Mr. Chamberlain for proposing that call for volunteers, sir—we were ready when we needed to be. I’d hate to think of the mess we’d be in now if we didn’t have that big influx of volunteers after you made your speech.”
“I add my thanks as well,” the President said. “Now, I need some clearheaded opinions on what to do next. Let’s hear it.”
“Whoever did this has to pay, Mr. President, and pay dearly,” Chamberlain said bitterly. He turned to Collins and asked, “What about the President’s proposal of asking Congress for a declaration of war on terrorism, Vicki?”
“The status is still the same, Bob,” Collins shot back acidly. She turned to the President: “It’s still being staffed, Mr. President. The White House, Justice, State, Defense, and congressional counsels have been meeting for weeks with no consensus.”
“What’s the holdup?” Chamberlain asked.
“Simple: we don’t have anyone to declare war on,” Collins said. “You can’t legally declare war on an activity or a concept. Even Israel has never declared war on organizations such as the Palestine Liberation Organization or Hezbollah, no matter how deadly they are. You can only declare war on another nation.”
“You of course have read that in the statutes, Miss Collins?”
“It’s not in the law, Mr. Chamberlain, but it’s common sense and logical,” Collins said.
“State agrees,” Secretary of State Christopher Parker chimed in, speaking via secure videoconference from a Continuity of Government location in Virginia. “Organizations that operate within a particular country take on the legal status of that country. Countries like Libya and Syria sanctioned and even supported groups we considered ‘terrorists’ for many years. The U.S. can declare war on that country in retaliation for something an extremist organization does while operating there, but it is incorrect to declare war on the organization itself.”
“Justice does not agree,” Attorney General George Wentworth interjected. “The invasion of Afghanistan to eliminate the Taliban and al Qaeda was a combat operation against a terrorist organization…”
“But the Taliban was never considered the legitimate government in Afghanistan,” Collins argued, “and we certainly did not ‘declare war’ on either the Taliban or al Qaeda…”
“What about Hamas in Libya and Lebanon, al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq…?”
“Making war and declaring war are two different things, Mr. Chamberlain, and you know it,” Collins interjected. “The President has full authority to take action against anyone or anything that threatens the peace and security of the United States, within the limits of the War Powers Act. But if the President wants authority and funding to pursue terrorists around the world for the next ten years, he needs an act of Congress.”
“In your opinion.”
“In my opinion, yes,” Collins said, “but so far the staff concurs.”
“You concur because it’s the safest and most politically nonconfrontational path, not because it’s right,” Chamberlain admonished. He turned to the President and went on, “Mr. President, I believe you can act at any time. The rumors have been circulating for weeks that you intend to do this: TV commentators have been examining the issue from top to bottom and I haven’t seen one roadblock presented yet…”
“Except the fact there’s no legal precedent for it,” Collins interjected. “Mr. President, let the staff do their job. Delay your decision awhile longer. Let us keep the topic alive with hints, rumors, and questions, and let the press and the pundits address the questions for us.”
“And how many more attacks do we have to endure like this before we act, Miss Collins?”
“What about your Task Force TALON?” Collins asked with the same acidity with which Chamberlain queried her. “That was supposed to be the prototype antiterrorist unit, sweeping out around the world hunting down the bad guys, and as far as anyone knows they’re still sitting on their hands in New Mexico.”
“They are most certainly not ‘sitting on their hands’…!”
“My last report tells me that there is a significant policy and leadership rift between the people you chose for that unit,” Collins said. “I’ve been told that half the unit doesn’t even train together and there is almost constant infighting because of a general disagreement on how the unit should be organized, led, and deployed.”
“Where are you getting this information, Collins?” Chamberlain asked. “Have you been briefed by either myself or Sergeant Major Jefferson…?”
“That’s not important. What is important is if the information is accurate or not. Is it?”
The President looked at Chamberlain, silently ordering him to answer. Chamberlain shot Collins an evil glare, but nodded toward the commander in chief. “There has been some…friction between the military and nonmilitary elements, Mr. President,” he conceded. “That was expected and it is being cleared up as we speak.”
“Robert, everything hinges on that team being ready when I go before the congressional leadership to announce my intention to ask for a declaration of war against terrorism,” the President said, the concern evident in his voice. “We have to be ready to act as soon as I get the vote, and I mean out the door and in action, not just ‘ready’ to get started. What’s the problem?”
“It’s the first dedicated full collaboration between the military special-ops community and federal law enforcement, sir—there were bound to be difficulties in establishing set procedures, tactics, chains of command, and exchange of intelligence,” Chamberlain said. “We’re attempting something that’s never been tried before: one command that controls both civil and military personnel, rather than two separate entities that attempt to work together but in fact have completely different priorities and procedures.”
“They’re all professionals, and they’re all federal employees—they know how to follow orders, don’t they?”
