“No, but have him drop by sometime before 17:00 hours today. Thanks, Peggy.”
At 16:00, Republican Speaker of the House Christopher Farrel was waiting in the ante chamber of the Oval Office. Johnny Withers brought him in as soon as the President was off the phone.
“Thanks for stopping by, Chris. It is good to see you again. How did things go in the House Ways and Means Committee today?”
“Not well, Mr. President. The unemployment figures are too high, closing in on nine percent. Income from taxes is down, and the Health and Human Services budget is way out of control. Social security will not be able to meet its obligations in two years, maybe less. We are going to have to reduce these so-called entitlements, or we will have an economic meltdown. We are so far in debt as a debtor nation that in two or three years we will not be able to pay the interest, let alone the principle on our T-bills, U.S. Savings bonds, and other financial instruments. We’re in trillions of dollars of debt as a nation. Remember the Weimar Republic after World War I, Mr. President? Well, that’s the financial crisis we are approaching in the next decade. They must have devalued the Deutsch Mark something like a million to one. That financial crisis and massive starvation in the population are major events that gave raise to the Nationalist Socialist Party, and Adolph Shicklegruber, aka Adolph Hitler. So, what can I do for you this fine day, Mr. President?”
“God, Chris. Do you always have to start by painting me such a rosy picture? When are we going to turn it around? You and the Vice President! You must have gone to the same school. Anyway, I asked you to drop by because I want you to write a bill repealing the Goldwater-Nichols Reform Act. It muzzles the Service Chiefs too much. It had some good qualities, but what I see is that only one point of view is summarily presented. I don’t like that. I want to hear and learn all sides, from each service arm, and then what the SECDEF finally decides and why. Get with whomever you like to help you rewrite it. Get with Vern Cowart and see what his opinion is on getting it through the Senate. He might want to sponsor the Senate version or have someone else do it. Let’s get it written within the next month or two and see how it flies. I know your staff is stretched pretty thin, but I feel we are really going to need reform and soon. Think you can do that?”
“Mr. President, it will be my pleasure. Any other bills you would like to introduce?”
“Someday, I would like an amendment to the Constitution. After what I am experiencing, I believe that we should change the requirements for the Presidency. From now on, every Presidential candidate should have to serve two years, minimum, active duty in the armed forces. No exceptions. The Public Health Service, the Coast Guard, the Reserves, the America Corps and all that crap doesn’t cut it. It has to be a military uniformed service, combat arms branch preferred. I doubt that will ever fly, given the current crop of cowardly politicians, but it should be so.”
“We’ll have to control the House, the Senate, and the Oval Office for that one, Mr. President. Then we will have to persuade enough of our Democratic colleagues to have the necessary votes. Still, maybe it is an idea whose time has come. It might take a decade after the idea is introduced, but that’s all the more reason to get started.
“Our elitist liberal comrades of the Democratic Party still hold the assumption that state power in the proper hands can lead its citizens to a better, even great, society. That concept is alive and well in them. These elitists suffer from the concept of just give me a little more power and I can do so much more good for so many more people. They believe that they are social engineers. Accordingly, many of them also believe they are above the law. Unfortunately, there is no drawn line on the limits of power they crave. The end result is an oligarchy, autocracy, or a dictatorship. In any event, or form, it is still tyranny and the end of the Republic. The thought of a military dictatorship, one they can’t control, as opposed to a civilian one, scares the hell out of them. We’re becoming more and more like Rome every day.”
“Thanks, Chris. I appreciate your take and support on the concept. How great it is to see a lawyer who is both a Constitutionalist and a Congressman. Take care, and I’ll talk with you later.” Johnny Withers escorted the Congressman out as Peggy walked in.
“Mr. President, Robert Lee wants to take a little leave. He has put his request in through his channels, but the Treasury guys want to know if it is OK with you. They can assign somebody else as your personal bodyguard without difficulty, or two or three if you like. It seems that Robert wants to go fishing in Canada again. He says he has a good deal on a guided trip up in Ontario for pike and muskies the next week. He’s anxiously awaiting your decision to make the phone call for reservations.”
Jason Thornton smiled. “Of course, Peggy, Robert can go fishing. I wish I could go myself. This job is very tiring. I could use a little vacation, and I haven’t had one since I took office almost two years ago. Right now, though, I’m just afraid to do so. Sure, let the poor boy go.”
Born to parents shortly after their emigration from Hong Kong in the 1980s, Robert-wha Lee was a second generation Chinese American and a current bodyguard to the President of the United States for the third year. He took several fishing trips a year, usually to Minnesota, Manitoba or Ontario. Sometimes, he employed a guide service, but often he went alone. His parents raised him under the strict hierarchy of the Chinese family. They inculcated a love of China in him from the day he was born. He excelled as a scholar-athlete. He won a scholarship to Princeton on being an outstanding high school football wide receiver with a 4.0 average. At Princeton, he played wide receiver on the gridiron for three years and majored in pre-law with an emphasis on criminal justice. After three years of undergraduate work, he was accepted to and attended Princeton’s law school. Upon graduation, he applied to the FBI Academy and was accepted. Upon graduation, he was a field officer for two years and then joined the hostage-rescue team for two more. His athletic prowess and karate skills as a member of the elite FBI HRT unit made him a prime candidate for bodyguard assignments for Very Important Persons. Upon request of the Treasury Department, he was laterally transferred and assigned as a bodyguard to the Vice President for one year, then to the President. He served President Dorn admirably and then became Jason Thornton’s personal bodyguard. He also served China very well.
Wednesday, 30 October 2022
“Service Chiefs, welcome once more to our tri-weekly meetings. From now on, you are all invited to attend. I very much appreciate your presence and encourage you to speak freely. At this table, everyone’s ideas and comments are important.
I have asked our SECDEF to have the Navy put together a briefing for the cabinet this morning, and I want this information to be understood by all members of the cabinet. It affects everybody, including Health and Human Services, Interior, Treasury, and so on, because it will impact on everybody’s budget at the very least. So, we’ll lead off with the briefing by Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Stark. Admiral, the floor is yours.”
“Thank you, Mr. President. The objective of this briefing is to inform you specifically of the Chinese submarine threat and, more generally, of the Chinese Navy. Referred to as the PLAN, or Chinese Liberation Army Navy, they have more or less a unified command structure. Over the last ten years, the Chinese have pretty much emulated the United States in many aspects. This translates to their forming their version of the Reserve Officers Training Corps at their universities and colleges. From all appearances, this is turning out quality junior officers, especially for the Navy. Many of these young people are joining the submarine service because it is the bedrock of the Chinese Navy. These people are receiving first rate training, equal in all respects to that which we give our naval officers. Their people are well screened, which provides them with the officers who are aggressive, can think for themselves, show initiative, and can stand confinement in submarines for weeks at a time.
“The Chinese strategy is simply that they believe the best answer to our carrier battle groups is the submarine. They can’t compete on the surface, so they feel that stealth is their answer to asymmetric warfare. They have all classes of submarines, nuclear attack, ballistic missile nuclear boats, and diesel attack submarines. It is the last category, the diesel attack submarine that offers the greatest threat to our blue water Navy. The diesel attack submarine is the ideal weapons system for the littoral environment. It can do double duty as a blue-water system as well, provided it can be replenished at sea, or can return to its base every four to twelve weeks, depending upon a variety of factors.
“These submarines and surface ships of the line have been practicing as combined arms teams for the last five or so years. The Chinese have also taken a lesson from the Germans in World War II. These submarines are practicing in hunter-killer groups, the so-called Wolf Packs of the Germans in the North Atlantic. Some of their documents even indicate they are willing to sacrifice their older submarines as bait to lure our Los Angeles Class submarines into attacking them, thus revealing their position to the more deadly Song II submarines lurking undetected in the area.
“Starting in the closing years of the last decade, the Chinese began buying state of the art Russian submarines. In the opening few years of this century, they purchased Project 636 Kilo class submarines, Russia’s best. These are air-independent propulsion diesel engine submarines. They can remain submerged for perhaps as many as four or more weeks without having to surface or snorkel. They can cruise quietly at three to five knots at depths up to five hundred meters for weeks at a time. If this isn’t enough, the Chinese have developed their own models, what they call the Song II class of submarines. They have been buying diesel engine systems, the best that the world has to offer, from the Germans. Their primary propulsion plant is a 1040-kilowatt diesel engine for recharging their eight membrane cells and surface movement. They have forty-kilowatt Siemens polymer electrolytic membrane fuel cells for underwater power. These are what allow them to remain submerged and quiet for so long. These are among the world’s best, if not the best, diesel submarines. They are far quieter than our Los Angeles class nuclear attack submarines. They have applied stealth technology to them, which is particularly hard for our submarines to detect. In fact, we believe that three-fourths of the time, we don’t detect them at all. When we do, it has been a matter of luck more than anything. These submarines have a skewed seven-blade propeller, can launch both anti-ship cruise missiles and land attack cruise missiles while submerged, and carry the best Russian torpedoes. Recall the Kursk, the Russian submarine that sank in 2001 with all hands aboard. They wouldn’t let us help rescue their sailors because they didn’t want to reveal their super cavitational torpedo which was in the research stage. The Chinese have adopted this torpedo. It blows a tremendous air bubble in front of itself, so that it is actually traveling in air rather than water. It has been clocked at 200 nautical miles per hour under water. This is no joke or exaggeration. No ship within ten miles can maneuver fast enough to escape it. Not only have they deployed this torpedo, but they also are equipped with second generation 53-65KE wake homing torpedoes, 73ME wire-guided torpedoes and independent sonar guided torpedoes.
“To go along with the diesel submarine threat, the Chinese have had a marked program of underwater exploration all along their southern coast extending into Southeast Asia. I am referring to underwater topographic map making. This will allow them to identify any submarine lying quietly on the bottom any time they want to scan the ocean floor. This technology is also valuable for mine-counter-mine warfare. There are reports, as yet unconfirmed, that they have also conducted some underwater mapping and exploration off the Indian subcontinent. That information came from the Indian Navy, which no longer exists. The Indian Navy experienced significant losses, many of which are believed to have been to submarines. Unfortunately, there is no way to confirm whose submarines, Pakistan’s or China’s. Since China and Pakistan had a mutual assistance treaty, it is not unreasonable to regard many of these sinkings as due to the Chinese Navy. They might have conducted these operations for practice against the United States Navy.
“We believe that many of these state-of-the-art diesel submarines are now deployed all around Taiwan, literally in a circle. While they have more or less completed the conquest of Southeast Asia, their navy and army and air forces have significant forces standing by on their coastline, apparently poised for an invasion of Taiwan. If they do launch an invasion, and we go to the aid of Taiwan, these submarines will constitute a major threat to our carrier battle groups.
“In this regard, we are somewhat skeptical that they will launch an attack against Taiwan at this time, but one can never be certain of that. The Chinese have surprised us many times before. Our reasoning for skepticism at this point is that they appear to lack sufficient landing craft and carrier vessels, such as our LHA and LHD classes of ships, like the USS Iwo Jima and the USS Bataan, to launch an invasion. Then, too, their invasion of Southeast Asia and now the Indian peninsula would argue that they are concentrating their land forces elsewhere.
“As if the diesel Song II subs aren’t enough of a threat, the Chinese now have blue water nuclear attack submarines they call the Type 93. They are similarly equipped with the same torpedoes as the Song II submarine fleet. Their mission is to engage our carrier battle groups in the blue water, before they reach the littorals, where the engagement will continue with the Song IIs. These Type 93 boats are at least equal to our Los Angeles attack submarines and probably approach the capabilities of our Virginia Class of nuclear attack submarines. Our Los Angeles class nuclear attack submarines are all platforms that are between thirty and forty years old. We have twenty-five left in the fleet, spread around the world. They can’t be upgraded to include more modern technology. We only have three of the newer Virginia class attack submarines. Congress eliminated the program in the 1990s as a cost saving measure. We believe the Chinese have at least twenty Type 93 attack boats.
“Regarding ballistic missile submarines, the Chinese have what they call the Type 94. It carries sixteen intermediate range, that is, 8,000-kilometer range, and ballistic land attack missiles. These are very quiet boats, evolutionarily derived from the Russian Typhoon missile submarines that used to prowl our coasts in the days of the Cold War. These missiles can be launched while submerged, the same as ours. We are not sure how many they have of these submarines; estimates vary from between two and ten. These missiles carry up to six MIRV, or multiple independent re-entry vehicles, warheads. The warheads can be nuclear or biological in nature. The nuclear warheads are believed to be about twenty-five kiloton yield. We lost this technology, essentially gave it to the Chinese through espionage, through the downloading of critical data from Los Alamos Laboratories onto personal computers about fourteen years ago. That cost us billions and gave the Chinese a twenty year leap of technological research.
“The Russians also sold them a couple of Oscar II Class SSGN, that’s ship, submersible, guided missile, nuclear, a couple of years back. The Kursk, that was the sub that sank when they were testing their cavitational torpedo, was one of the first. These are cruise missile carrying nuclear submarines. These are 154 meters along the beam, depth tested to 600 meters, carry 24 ‘Granite’ supersonic cruise missiles with a 550-kilometer range. They carry eighteen missiles or torpedoes in reserve. They have torpedo tubes for both the 650 mm torpedoes and 533 mm bow torpedo tubes. In short, they can fire all classes of torpedoes. They have 100,000 horsepower drive trains and can do thirty-three knots submerged.
“In monitoring sales of technology, we believe all of these submarines have utilized state of the art off-the-shelf technology for digital sonar systems and signal processing.
“In terms of the surface fleet, we have very recently seen large ocean going catamarans which we believe can carry a thousand tons or more of cargo. They appear to be about 350 feet long, double hulled, and probably made of aluminum. We’re not sure just how seaworthy these craft are, but they appear to be quite fast, thirty-five knots an hour, modular, and cheaply constructed. We think they might be a supply fleet for a land invasion, but that is speculation on our part. If they remain in the littoral waters, seaworthiness might not be as significant as blue water capability. We don’t know how many of these ships are in the inventory, or how many they plan to build.
“In terms of ships of the line, they have been building a fleet of guided missile patrol boats. These are a derivative of our concept of the littoral combat ship. They are fast, up to forty knots, carry automatic multi-purpose 57 mm Bofors guns, two torpedo tubes which we suspect house anti-submarine torpedoes, and four pods of four anti-aircraft missiles each, and two modular anti-ship units with four ship to ship cruise missiles for a total of eight. They have towed array sonar and medium range radar. They have a crew of about 50 men and officers. They pack an awfully lot of firepower in a small package. They have what appears to us to have a very small boom on the back and a rail. These are believed to be for launching and recovering small unmanned aerial vehicles. If so, these give them even greater versatility with over-the-horizon vision.
“In 2002, the Chinese launched the first of several guided missile destroyers, which they call Project 52B. These are 6,000-ton ships that carry up to 48 surface to air missiles, surface anti-ship missiles, what appear to be anti-submarine torpedoes, twin 100-mm guns, and a helicopter. Pictures yield what are believed to be phased array radar. They also have considerable sonar capability. They have been building about eight of these boats every year since then. It would appear that they will be the backbone of the surface fleet. Relatively small for what they carry, they employ considerable stealth technology. With fleets of these destroyers and patrol boats, they pose a considerable threat to invasion through littoral waters. That concludes the briefing. Are there any questions, Mr. President? Anyone?”
“Thank you, Admiral. With that background, it seems logical to assume their primary objective is the Persian Gulf. They have to go through or north of Iran to get the Caspian Basin. Why should they go for the lesser resources of the Caspian Basin when they might be able to take Iran and the Gulf? It seems obvious to me that they are going to control the Arabian Sea. Let me hear arguments to the contrary? Ms. Stearns, you earlier suggested the Caspian Basin over the Gulf. What’s your thinking on that?”
“Mr. President, I think that if they go for Iran and the Gulf, they are smart enough to realize they will provoke the United States, Japan, and Europe against them. Russia and the United States have enough nuclear power to annihilate the Chinese homeland, and they know it. The Caspian Sea Basin resources will satisfy their energy requirements for the next twenty-five to thirty years. By that time, they will be able to take the Persian Gulf without a fight, as they will dominate all of Asia and be so overpowering that no one or coalition will dare to oppose them. Another factor is Iran itself. They are extending themselves over thousands of miles on three fronts. How far can they go? Then there are the Iranian people. Iran is one of the most truculent nations or peoples in history. The Chinese have yet to encounter anyone so well armed and dedicated as the Iranians. The Iranians would fight them every step of the way, at a tremendous cost to both sides. I don’t think they want to tangle with Iran. Iranians would blow their own wells, I am sure; the devastation and pollution would be worse than the Iraqi retreat from Kuwait in 1991. I think they are smarter than that.”
“How do you explain this extraordinary buildup of naval power? How does that fit in with the Caspian Sea Basin as their objective?”
“It is possible that they intend to control the Arabian Sea but not move into the Gulf itself. If they control the shipping out of the Gulf, they don’t need to take the Persian Gulf itself. They can establish their bases of interdiction along the southern coast of Pakistan and western coast of India. They will also control the Straits of Malacca which will allow them to choke down Japan any time they choose. Korea is already written off as any kind of power at all. Korea will be a very modest source of food stuffs, provided they can get anybody to go in there and farm rice and raise livestock, given all the tactical nukes that went off on the peninsula.”
“Jim, where do we stand in our cooperation with the Japanese on state-of-the-art anti-submarine warfare? How soon are we going to be able to take on these quiet diesel subs and win 90% of the time?”
“We have shared technology, utilizing the latest off-the-shelf hardware and have made good progress in these last several months, Mr. President. Both we and the Japanese have jumped ahead, far better than each going it alone. Overall, I would have to say, though, that we got the better end of the deal. They were farther ahead than any of us thought. Another couple of years, and it will be a done deed.”
“Jim, I don’t think we have a couple of years. If we have a couple of months more, we will be lucky. I mean, how soon can these new anti-submarine suites be installed on all of our subs, Japanese and American, and crews trained, and be ready to kick ass?”
“That, Mr. President, I am not prepared to answer at this time. I can only hazard a guess of a year for our current Los Angeles class subs, probably a little less if we push full steam ahead. We might do just as well with the new DDX ships.”
“Admiral Stark, I want state-of-the-art installed on one submarine of each of our classes today and training of the crews initiated. Call it field testing if you like. If you think it indicated, get Japanese experts onboard with our crews to help. We will do the same for them. Jim, you and the Admiral call on the Japanese ambassador today with that proposal. We can’t start soon enough. I think they will be only too eager to share.
“Admiral Stark, what, in your opinion, would be the result of testing our subs against the Chinese mainland’s anti-submarine defenses? Would it alert them? Would it help them develop countermeasures? Would we be giving away methods and information we shouldn’t?”
