“A drug enforcement action that just happens to give them legal cover to board and inspect any vessel they want,” Harrington said slowly. “Including ships bound for Taiwan.”
“Exactly. Until the proposal actually drops or they release more details, we’re operating on fragments. But between this and the EDEP exercises…” Batista shook his head. “That brings me to the reason I called you here. That document we discussed a while back, the one that says ‘break glass in case of emergency’… well, the President considers this an emergency.” Batista slid a folder across the table to him.
Harrington opened it, raising an eyebrow when he saw the letterhead. His eyes quickly read it, noting the language, the monies allocated, and the waivers for ITARS and export-controlled items.
“Unfortunately, recent events have compressed our timeline,” Batista continued. “Between Beijing’s rhetoric, this recent customs announcement, and the ongoing demonstrations on Kinmen and Matsu, it’s increasingly looking like they’re gearing up to do something stupid. We need to be ready for whatever it is.”
Batista pointed to the document. “Marcus, this supersedes your previous authorization. President Ashford has removed any and all procurement restrictions. You now have direct acquisition authority for the full suite of autonomous systems.”
Harrington nodded, continuing to scan the document with practiced efficiency, mentally cataloging the expanded authorities. “The Anduril package is substantial. Fury combat drones, Lattice C2 architecture, autonomous interceptors—”
“Everything,” Batista interjected. “Plus the newest generation of Epirus Leonidas counterdrone systems and Saronic’s coastal defense platforms. Full-spectrum electronic warfare capabilities. The whole arsenal. We can’t go light on this — we have to go all in if we’re going to make it work.”
“Good, and the funding mechanism?”
Batista pulled another folder from the classified bag he’d brought and slid it across the table. “This is your funding document and authorities. You have four-point-eight billion dollars to spend. It’s being channeled through three separate funding vehicles. Defense Production Act authorities have been invoked with the primary contractors on anything we need that we don’t already have on hand or in the production pipeline.”
Marcus whistled softly. “Damn, you know this is a significant escalation from our current footprint of slowly and steadily boiling the frog, right?”
Batista shrugged. “We’re adapting to overcome. The timeline has changed, but not the President’s strategy. He still believes our best weapon is to use economic pressure as our primary leverage against China. But he’s purchasing this insurance policy via TSG in case it fails.” Batista tapped the finding. “Your teams need to expedite the defense in depth strategy that makes Taiwan too costly to invade.”
“Yeah, I can see that. We’ve been doing a lot of that with the ROC Marines and a couple of Army units. We are doing the best we can with the people we have, but right now I’m running everything with just two hundred and thirty-six people. I’ve got a hundred and ninety of them deployed in-country between Penghu and Tamsui as mobile training teams. If you are wanting us to go operational, actually assist the ROC in repelling an attack, two hundred and thirty-six people isn’t going to cut it.”
“Agreed, and we are addressing that.” Batista extracted a USB drive. “The authorization includes recruitment of four hundred additional contractors. Names have been pre-vetted, and the ones still on active duty can be transferred to support TSG via JSOC and the Agency. Everything you need, their backgrounds and documentation are on here.” He passed the drive across the table and Harrington pocketed it.
“And should things go kinetic, are there limits on our involvement or do we have a free hand to operate as we see fit?”
Batista leaned forward, looking Harrington in the eyes. “Marcus, if things go kinetic with the PRC, we’re in trouble. Not just us, but everyone else on our side of the ledger. Publicly, the Taiwan Study Group is a registered private military contractor that’s been hired to provide training and assistance to the armed forces of the Republic of China as they modernize their military. Privately, there are only five people in their government who know TSG has been contracted to fight on behalf of, and alongside, ROC government forces. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but should it, TSG is legally protected.”
