“We have two aircraft carrier battle groups presently in the Pacific. One is in the South China Sea, and the other is south of the Indonesian Archipelago. A third is present in the Indian Ocean, standing south, off the Straits of Hormuz. Our liaison office is in Yongsan Dong, Yongsan Ku, at our old Eighth U.S. Army Headquarters. We have lost contact with them. We expect that that base has been heavily attacked. We do have other people over there in other offices, and we have contacted them by cell phone, via satellite relay. Our satellite imagery reveals that the North Koreans are at least three echelons deep above Corps level. I put in a call to the Director, National Reconnaissance Office for a measure of North Korean traffic headed south, on all radio traffic at the division level and higher, and anything else they have on the situation. I am waiting for a return call on that on my secure phone. In the eastern part of the peninsula, where it is more mountainous, they will have to move slower. They can’t utilize their massive armor brigades as efficiently. It is more of a light infantry conflict. That will be tough.
“We don’t know how much support the North Koreans will receive from the Chinese or Russians. It is far more likely that that China will support them. Russia should have no stake in it. We do have confirmed reports that the Russians have been selling them armor and first-line aircraft at varying rates and models for the last two decades. This seems to be a matter of the Russian mafia that runs the manufacturing plants rather than official Russian government policy. I’ll send classified memos to everyone present as the situation develops and more information is available.”
“Marge, what have you heard from your State Department folks over there? Any word at all?” Marge Talbot, Secretary of State, frowned. “We had an initial communication that came in at 03:45. It said that a wave of North Korean aircraft had attacked Seoul. We presume other points, targets north of Seoul, have come under intense fire as well. Our message was sent in the clear. Apparently, they saw no justification to encrypt it. I don’t see any reason either. Our response was a request for more information, but we haven’t been able to raise them. It is not unreasonable to assume our embassy was a North Korean target; no doubt a stray bomb, quite by accident, destroyed it, of course! I anticipate we will receive an apology when things quiet down a bit. Things have been pretty quiet over there for the last six months, so we didn’t know if the North had calmed down or what. Apparently, they were trying to play it cool while they finalized their plans and amassed their forces. That’s all I have at this time, Mr. President.”
“General, what do your folks have to say?”
Ronald Craig, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff responded. “I put in a call to the Chief of Naval Operations as soon as my aide awakened me. He told me that he would immediately order the carrier battle groups in the region to steam towards the Korean peninsula. He seemed to think it would be a good idea to put one group on each side of the peninsula, the Sea of Japan and the South China Sea. I concurred. One should be on station in twenty-four hours, and the other could take as long as two days. All naval forces worldwide should now be on alert through the office of the CNO, per your order earlier this morning.
“The South Koreans are tough and determined. I do not know, however, what the outcome will be. As Ed said, it will probably hinge on how much support they get from China, and whether or not they will use tactical nuclear weapons. If they do go to nukes, all bets are off. We left enough tactical nukes there when we pulled out for the South Koreans to eliminate the north. On the other hand, nobody wants to make a glass-lined, radioactive parking lot out of land they covet. Still, the North Korean leadership is crazy enough to do anything. If it goes badly for them long enough, it would not surprise me to see North Korea let the nuclear genie out of the bottle.
“This pretty well confirms, at least to me, that the massive illness experienced by the South Korean troops up on the DMZ is the result of a biological attack. The last word I had from our medical boys at Fort Detrick was that the organism appeared to be a genetically altered strain of tularemia. Extremely infectious, but not contagious. Apparently, this organism is very easily genetically manipulated and can be tailored for a particular situation. They have been doing DNA analysis comparing it to all known related organisms. It seems the North Koreans engineered resistance to all commonly used antibiotics into it. While it is certainly lethal enough, killing about fifty or more percent of the victims, it does not seem to be transmissible person to person. Rather, it results in a significant illness that takes a long time for recuperation. That tells us that they want to reduce the potential for infection in the civilian population, especially in Seoul. I would suggest that they want to preserve the brain talent in that city. That’s where most of their national expertise lives. That biological attack, in itself, might constitute a declaration of use of weapons of mass destruction. The South Korean strategy is to attrit the attacking force initially, bring it to a standstill along a line roughly halfway down South Korea, then launch a counterattack that will take them all the way to the Yalu. That is another story. Nobody knows what will happen when, or if, the South Koreans get that far. Nobody knows if the Chinese will get into it the way they did in the fall of 1950 when they attacked NATO forces south across the Yalu.”
“Ladies and gentlemen, you are all aware we are under treaty to come to the aid of South Korea. General, what land forces are immediately deployable and how soon can we get them there?”
“Mr. President, we have our two premier divisions, the 82nd Airborne, and the 101st Air Assault. It will take about 24 hours to get task organized, draw sufficient ammunition from the stores, and get them to the ships. We might be able to airlift a few battalions in, but that is about it. Our air fleet is incapable of moving any significant heavy forces. It will only be light forces that we can immediately deploy. It will take two weeks for us to get heavy forces to the coasts and on ships and started. A major logistical problem exists in that we don’t have enough organic sealift. We will have to contract with many foreign vessels in order to provide any sustainable logistical support, the way we did in the first Gulf War. Our seven fast roll-on roll-off ships won’t get an intact heavy division to the battle in time. We only have two of the new San Antonio class LHD assault ships in the water. I can have the 18th Airborne Corps out of Fort Hood, TX ready to roll in twenty-four hours, ready to board the ships in Galveston, but unfortunately, we won’t have any ships for them to board. In all, it will be about a month before we have heavy forces on the peninsula. The Marines have an expeditionary brigade afloat in the Indian Ocean. It would take about five days to get them into the battle. Thirty-five hundred Marines and a dozen aging Harrier aircraft aboard half a dozen ships screened by one submarine aren’t going to make much difference. They would more or less be a sacrificial lamb. Nevertheless, they are steaming in that direction. The war could well be over – or go nuclear - by the time our heavy forces arrive. We have to decide then whether or not, if that nuclear genie escapes from the bottle, we want to commit to a nuclear battlefield. Almost certainly, our leading elements as well as our logistical support will receive nuclear fires under such circumstances. The CNO tells me that if it goes nuclear, our ships will probably be hit while they are several hundred miles out to sea to preclude any rescue or support of any kind.”
“Marge, are there any indications at all, even the most trivial hint, of how the Chinese will act in all of this?”
“No, Mr. President, there isn’t the slightest hint. The Chinese toned down the rhetoric just before the last national elections and haven’t turned it up again. They have been most polite, even almost accommodating. I find that a bit disconcerting, given their rhetoric and minor irritating actions over the last few years. I don’t have a good feeling about them.”
“Marge, do we have anything at all from our so-called friends and allies?”
“The British called to let us know that they are standing by their red phones if and when you decide to call, Mr. President. Germany simply sent us a secure fax stating that they are aware of the North Korean invasion. Nothing more, nothing less. No one else has responded in any way.”
“If any of you have any subordinates with expertise that might be of value that you want to bring into the discussion, call them now. Ed, call the Recon Office and find out what they have at the moment.”
“Yes, sir.” Ed McCluskey and Margaret Talbott scooted their chairs back and reached for their cell phones as they moved to the foyer. Talbott called her office, while McCluskey called the National Reconnaissance Office for an update. Talbott told them to get Roberta Sterns to the White House ASAP. “Send a car for her, with an armed guard, and be quick about it.”
Breakfast for the meeting was wheeled in on several carts as the two returned from the foyer. The President said, “Let’s eat, folks. We can think and talk while we chow down.” The President had once deeply regretted to himself that he had never served in the military service of his country. Now, he saw the value of it and vowed that if he could, he would change the constitution to require that the President of the United States serve at least two years of active military duty. The cabinet members quickly filled their plates and returned to the table. Stewards served hot coffee and tea as they ate. The President and Marge Talbott preferred tea to coffee, so there was always hot tea available.
Johnny Withers walked to the President’s chair and whispered in his ear. “Bring him in, Johnny.”
“Yes, sir” said Johnny Withers as he briskly walked out of the room. In a moment, he returned with an oriental visitor.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m sure you know Mr. Pak, Whin-yu, the North Korean delegate from their Consulate here in Washington.”
Mr. Pak, Whin-yu, bowed graciously from the waist to the President, and glanced at the table. “I am so sorry to interrupt your breakfast, I did not know you were eating, or I would have waited outside.”
“Nonsense, Mr. Pak, we are glad you are here. We are most certainly interested in everything you have to say.”
“Thank you, Mr. President. I have been instructed to hand you a letter from our Kim, Jong-un, regarding the current circumstances in our homeland.” Pak, Whin-yu removed a file folder from his case and handed it to Johnny Withers who handed it to the President. He carried the document in a simple polyvinyl case. He did not like being searched by the Secret Service Agents who would not allow him to carry anything in without intense scrutiny, including radiographing it.
“I will wait outside, Mr. President, while you and your Cabinet discuss it, in case you so desire to reply. Thank you for seeing me.” Pak, Whin-yu bowed again, took two steps backward, turned and walked away. Johnny Withers escorted him to an outside waiting room, offered him some coffee or tea and breakfast Danish rolls and returned to the Conference Room.
The President read the letter out loud as the Cabinet continued to eat.
“Dear Mr. President: Our wonderful country of Korea is about to be re-united under one government. We are one people, not two, and shall go forward from this day as one. It is in the best interest of all concerned if this is accomplished without outside interference. It is a problem exclusively of the Korean people and will be exclusively resolved by the Korean people.
Any outside interference will not be tolerated and will be considered an act of war. We, the People’s Republic of Korea, are fully prepared to utilize any and all means at our disposal, including weapons of mass destruction, against any nation or nations that attempts to interfere in our internal affairs. The consequences of such interference are so severe that that interference should not even be a consideration. We will utilize all means at our disposal to attack both the military forces and the homeland of the nation that sends them.
We feel confident that the United States will act in its own best interest in this matter. We look forward to having a warm and working relationship with the United States in the future.”
Kim, Jong-un
President, People’s Republic of Korea
The President glanced around the room, then turned to Johnny Withers. “Tell Mr. Pak Whin-yu that we have no reply for his government at this time. We will send for him as soon as we have formulated a response.”
“Yes, Mr. President.” Johnny Withers walked away. The President glanced at the faces in the room. He noticed his personal bodyguard, Win, James Ho Lee (alias Robert Lee) a second generation Chinese American, stood with arms across his chest, looking out into the foyer where Withers disappeared.
“Comments, people,” said the President. No one spoke. “Myron, as Assistant SECDEF, get your top dog military medical intelligence guy up here, right now. I want everyone to know the latest about biological weapons of mass destruction.”
“Yes, Mr. President, it will be a couple of hours. We will fly him in from Fort Detrick, at the Medical Intelligence unit where he is commander. I’ll send a helicopter after him.” Ed McCluskey left the table once again, this time to call Andrews Air Force Base to dispatch a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, with gunship escorts. Then he called the Medical Intelligence Unit Commander at Fort Detrick on a hot line. “Colonel, I’m sending a helicopter after you. It should be there in an hour. Pack a suitcase. You’re wanted at the White House, and you might be here for several days to weeks. That is all.” After he heard a “Yes, sir” for response, McCluskey hung up without waiting for further conversation and returned to the conference room.
Frank Burgess, Colonel, Medical Corps, U.S. Army, Defense Medical Intelligence Unit, Commanding, hung up his red phone. He picked up his routine phone and called his wife. “Honey, I have to go to Washington. Turn on the news. North Korea just attacked across the DMZ. I’m sure that is what this about. Pack me a couple of bags, with two Class A uniforms, three or four uniform shirts, underwear, ditty bag, raincoat, and a couple of civilian outfits, you know the drill. I have to go to D.C. and might be gone for a week or so. I’ll send a car over to pick them up. Put my Beretta 96 in as well, along with my Kydex holster and my shoulder holster and magazine pouch with an extra magazine. I’m sure I won’t need it, but you know the Washington, D.C. area.” The Colonel had applied for and received a federal pistol permit from the FBI based upon his position in the Army. He really didn’t like going armed in the nation’s capitol, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Johnny Withers strode over to Marge Talbott and whispered in her ear. Marge spoke, “Mr. President, Roberta Stearns, my Deputy Undersecretary for Far Eastern Affairs, is in the foyer. She has been preaching something like this for the last couple of years.
The President nodded to Withers, “Bring her in, Johnny.”
