“Sir, I’m showing one hundred percent of the force fully mission ready,” Tyler said, checking the connectivity readout of all his SAC units on the big board. The force is currently under posture four, under my authority. However, please be aware that the current SIOP OPLAN has no contingencies for operations against China or in the east Asian region. We hold no Chinese targets at risk.”
“Understood,” Curtis replied. “It may be premature to declare an A-hour, however. We will defer that decision for the NCA when we call the Charlie conference.”
“Discharge of nuclear weapons automatically invokes at least a DEFCON Three level,” Tyler said. “I recommend we proceed with that. Undoubtedly the Russians and the Chinese will respond by increasing their readiness levels as well; we should take the first step and then re-evaluate the situation.”
“We’d have time for a discussion about contingency planning at a later time,” General Curtis said. “Right now I want recommendations for the NCA as to the status of our deterrent forces.”
“SAC recommends DEFCON Three, posture four,” Tyler said.
“Forces concurs,” General Jackson, commander of the Army Forces Command, said. As the largest single military command, the Army needed the most time to generate its units to go on a wartime footing and therefore had an equal say in whether a higher readiness state should be declared.
“COMSIJBFLT concurs,” Admiral Towland, commander of strategic nuclear submarines, added.
There was a slight pause, followed by a cryptic “Stand by” from General Curtis. Tyler found his palms moist and clammy. He rubbed them on his warmup-suit pants to dry them.
The Chairman of the JCS came back on: “All units, this is RENEGADE. Implement DEFCON Three. Posture will be no higher than that implemented by DEFCON Three. Stand by.”
A few moments later, a warbling tone was heard over Tyler’s headset and through the interphone system. The DEFCON lights above the big board changed from “4” to “3” and all of the Command Center status lights changed to red Top Secret indications. The Joint Chiefs of Staff communications center had assembled a coded message and broadcast it to all of the major commands. When received in the Essential Elements section, the message was decoded, checked, and the checklist for that order run immediately. “What do we got, Audrey?” Tyler asked.
“DEFCON Three, posture three,” the SAC senior controller replied. “No A-hour specified. Time-control clock start in five… four… three… two… one… now.” Just then, the second event-timer above the big board started counting. “Message acknowledged to JCS, checked and verified, standing by for retransmit.”
“Retransmit,” Tyler ordered. The message ordering an increased state of readiness would now be sent to all SAC alert units in the United States. The DEFCON change would also affect nuclear-capable Tactical Air Command units in Europe and Asia, all of the Navy’s ballistic missile submarines, and the Sixth and Eighth Armies in Europe and Korea, which were some of the few Army units with deployed nuclear weapons.
After acknowledgment messages were received from all the major military commands, General Curtis said to the poll participators: “I will convene a Charlie conference as soon as possible. Have a breakdown of the pre-planned options for this contingency, along with your further recommendations. RENEGADE out.”
The connection was then terminated.
“So what do we do now?” Stone asked.
“Run the checklists,” Tyler said. “It’s not unlike flying a fighter — we follow the checklist and it generally keeps us out of trouble.”
A yellow light flashed on the telephone beside Tyler. “Well, here we go.” He sighed. Before he picked up the phone, he turned and requested that iced tea be brought for him and Stone. “This is going to take awhile,” he predicted. “We do it a little bass-ackwards, but it usually works.
“Curtis does a Charlie conference to direct each service branch to review the pre-planned contingency OPLANS, and the JCS decides which one to run. Then Curtis’ll go to the President and SECDEF face-to-face and make his pitch. The President usually signs off on the plan just to get the ball rolling — then, when his Cabinet, the Congress, and the press find out, shit hits the fan. But that’s not our concern.”
“Where do you need me?” Stone asked.
“Right with me, Rat Killer,” Tyler replied. “You’re my resident Philippine expert. We built a new Philippine contingency plan when Clark closed, but I’ll need you to look it over, tell me if it’s still valid in the face of what the Chinese have out there.”
“I’m ready,” Stone said. “Is there any time to get out of these sweats, though? I’m not sure the staff will be able to work closely with me if I stink like an old pair of sneakers.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Tyler said, a grim smile on his face. “Before long, everyone here will be just as nervous and sweaty as you are — except it won’t be from exercise, it’ll be from good ol’ fear.”
