The enemy of my enemy, p.18
The Enemy of My Enemy, page 18
The Supreme Leader began what would become a fifty-five-minute speech. Starting first with extravagant praise for DPRK scientists and military leadership. He quickly transitioned into a diatribe against the Americans, Japan, and the puppet South Korean government. He went on to say that today’s test of the Hwasong-16 would put the entire world on notice. The DPRK was now, or soon would be a full-fledged nuclear power. It was no longer relegated to just homeland defense or enemies in or around the Pacific. Its nuclear arsenal now included multi-megaton fusion weapons. And the Hwasong-16 would allow them to deliver one or more of these so-called hydrogen bombs to any city in the United States.
The North Korean members of the audience sat ramrod straight, never taking their eyes off the Supreme Leader, paying rapt attention to his every word, and speaking not a word to one another during his oration. Most of the audience had heard stories of the Army officer who, years ago, had dozed off while the dictator was speaking. The officer had been executed by a firing squad using anti-aircraft machine guns. And his family sentenced to twenty years of forced labor at one of the scores of prison camps located throughout the country. North Korea had a “three generation punishment rule.” If someone is convicted of a crime and executed or sent to prison, the entire immediate family and two following generations would be imprisoned as well. From that perspective, the officer’s family got off relatively light. For whatever reason, whenever the Supreme Leader was speaking, or even within sight, the audience appeared to be more like robots than human. Finally, the Supreme Leader concluded his speech with a promise to destroy the Americans in nuclear fire and biological pestilence if sanctions against the DPRK weren’t lifted.
When he was finished speaking, the Supreme Leader turned and began walking off the stage. The audience immediately stood and, except the Swedish and Swiss representatives, started clapping and cheering. Not with the joy and exuberance any other group of people in any other country might display for even a mildly motivating speaker, or grammar school play for that matter. But with a spirit inspired by fear and total ignorance of the world outside their highly guarded borders.
As he left the stage, the Supreme Leader was guided toward a large metal table, and five leather office chairs a few meters in front of the bleachers. He, his two Army General companions, and the senior scientists in charge of the ICBM and nuclear warhead programs respectively sat down to observe the launch. As soon as they were seated the general sitting to the right of the Supreme Leader gave a hand signal and the countdown began.
A large digital clock mounted on poles off to the right of the bleachers showed the time remaining. Large similarly mounted speakers also began booming the countdown when the clock indicated thirty seconds remained. At ten seconds, the Supreme Leader picked up the enormous pair of binoculars lying directly in front of him and started looking at the missile. Three, two, one; with a blinding eruption of light, fire exploded from the bottom of the Hwasong-16. The sound was deafening and continuous as the missile vaulted from its launch platform. The Supreme Leader jumped out of his seat and started clapping with the wild, unrestrained enthusiasm of a kid at a magic show. The Korean spectators immediately did the same. The two NNSC officers stood up as well, albeit slowly and they did not clap or cheer. They knew this was far from a joyous event.
Ten seconds after liftoff the fifty-ton missile was eight thousand feet in the air traveling at the Mach 1, the speed of sound. It was a perfect launch. Twenty seconds later it had climbed to thirty-eight thousand feet and was moving three times the speed of sound. Then things went wrong, terribly wrong.
Inside the missile’s first stage, a newly designed, steerable exhaust nozzle started moving to one side. The nozzle was developed to allow the missile to make computer initiated directional changes in mid-flight. It was doing just that. Only these changes weren’t in the instructions the DPRK scientists had programmed into the computer. The Hwasong-16 started turning to the northeast, directly toward Sapporo, Japan.
There was sheer panic inside the mission control bunker. Looking back and forth at an array of television screens then to computer monitors, the launch commander started screaming questions, then orders to bewildered technicians. Thirty-five seconds after liftoff the missile was flying at full speed, not straight up as intended but parallel to the sea below. Knowing the test was doomed the launch commander ordered a technician to destruct the Hwasong-16. The technician removed the safety cover from a control panel, then flipped the self-destruct switch. Nothing happened. He flipped it off, then on again. Still nothing. Then the missile started diving straight for the ocean at full speed. At one kilometer above the water, traveling more than four times the speed of sound, the missile exploded.
Neither the spectators in the bleachers nor the Supreme Leader witnessed the destruction of the Hwasong-16. It was out of their line of sight when it exploded. For several minutes the Supreme Leader was jubilant, smiling, clapping his chubby hands, and raising his arms upward victoriously. The crowd, still on their feet, were also clapping and cheering wildly. Then a landline telephone used to communicate with the control bunker before the launch, rang. One of the scientists answered it before the second ring. Those looking at the man’s face saw his expression change in an instant from joy to terror. For several seconds he spoke with the person on the other end of the line then laid the phone on the table and tapped the General sitting next to him on the shoulder. The General turned curtly toward the scientist, clearly annoyed at the interruption, and the two had a brief, hushed, discussion. The General picked up the phone, spoke and then listened for a few seconds before thrusting it back to the scientist.
By now the Supreme Leader noticed the commotion out of the corner of his eye and turned toward the two men. The General bowed slightly and then coming as close as he dared whispered something to the Supreme Leader and the second general. The three men stopped their celebration, the General said something to one of the female officers and followed the Supreme Leader, whose smile had vanished, walking toward their sedan. The officer, displaying the composure of one who did not fully understand what was happening, announced to the spectators that today’s demonstration was over. Everyone must follow their guides and load back onto the buses. There would be a price to pay for the missile’s failure.
Chapter 21
November would prove to be one of the most infamously momentous months in the history of the United States. The year’s hurricane season should have been drawing to a close. Instead, hurricane Valerie, after devastating the Cayman Islands, had slammed across Cuba and the Florida Keys. It was regaining strength as it hovered over the warm waters of the Gulf on a path that would take it directly across St. Petersburg. It had gone from a category four to a three after passing over Cuba. But it was predicted to regain its strength to category four again when it reached the west coast of Florida. Valerie was the fifth hurricane of the season and the third category four. In addition to marking the end of hurricane season, November was also presidential election month. Metaphorically speaking, there was also a political storm raging across the country.
The presidential candidates themselves had, at least initially, conducted themselves in a respectively civil manner. Especially when compared to the previous campaign which ushered in the, soon to be former, sitting POTUS. However, things erupted when the Republican candidate, by far the more conservative of the two, against his campaign advisors’ recommendations, dropped a political bombshell in October. For the last two decades, the country had wrestled with three politically and emotionally polarizing issues. Eking into first place was the questions surrounding the second amendment. The overwhelming majority of conservatives maintained it was their constitutional, if not God-given, right to purchase and carry virtually any type of firearm. This included what was generally referred to as assault rifles and even the mechanisms which could convert them into automatic weapons. The infamous “bump stock.” They also demanded the absolute minimum in government restrictions and registration requirements. Most liberals were lumped squarely on the other end of the continuum. They vocally maintained that it was never the founding father’s intention to do more than to provide for a “well-regulated militia.” They were firm in their belief that no one had a right, or need, to possess a weapon who sole purpose was to kill other homo sapiens. This continually simmering issue was brought to a boil with each mass murder which seemed to be increasing in ferocity and frequency.
The second most divisive issue du jour hovered around immigration and welfare. Conservatives could not separate the two. They screamed for strictly enforced, quota-based, legal immigration policies and iron-fisted control of U.S. borders. Or at least it’s southern border. A multi-billion dollar barrier had served as a campaign platform for years. However, funding never materialized, and the U.S. Mexican border remained as porous as ever. Liberals argued that immigration, even when illegal, was, in fact, healthy and in the best interest of the U.S., Mexico, and other Central American countries. Nearly one hundred billion dollars are sent back to the relatives of Central American immigrants each year with over forty percent going to Mexico alone. It is a fact that Mexico is America’s third largest trading partner. And the belief that immigrants perform jobs that U.S. workers do not want, or will not do is the backbone of pro-immigration arguments. Conservatives see an inextricable link between immigration and welfare abuse. Although, they are quick to point out that there is more than enough to go around in homegrown third and fourth generation food stamp, public housing, “baby momma” communities. They don’t say it out loud, but they mean black.
Finally, in the Bronze position of political contentions is healthcare. It has long been a liberal position that all healthcare is a fundamental human right and that it should be managed, controlled, and paid for by the federal government. Since the majority of Democrats were left of center on the political-social continuum, this concept formed the crux of their platform on this issue. The overwhelming majority of conservatives and their Republican party took a polar opposite stance. To them, healthcare was like any other commodity. You worked, you paid for it, and you had total control over your choice of medical provider.
The Republican candidate had a solution that in his mind would address and begin to solve what he saw as causing many of the problems in the United States. It was his position that the principal problem with American society was an apathetic, politically ignorant, citizenry.
He was a physician and followed the same methodology in addressing nonmedical issues that he used in the operating room. He attempted to do a root-cause analysis and then address the core cause of a disease, or problem, rather than treating its symptoms. This worked with cancer, and it would work for society. You might prescribe a Tylenol to relieve a headache temporarily, but you treated the tumor causing the pain. One of his solutions was as radical as battlefield surgery. You did what you had to do to save the patient.
His plan called for an amendment to the United States Constitution itself. He, and subsequently his party, proposed changing the manner by which citizenship is granted. The 14h Amendment to the Constitution bestows citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.” The Republican candidate firmly believed that this carte blanche bestowing of the rights and privileges of citizenship, but no commensurate obligations or responsibility was the root of all social and political evil in the United States.
The Republican candidate proposed changing the 14th Amendment to read: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are eligible to apply for United States citizenship and the State wherein they reside upon their seventeenth birthday. To obtain citizenship, applicants must serve a minimum of two years of military, law enforcement, or congressionally approved public service and must take and successfully pass the official United States Citizenship Naturalization Test.
As if the modification to the 14th Amendment wasn’t enough, he proposed constitutional changes that would; restrict the purchase, ownership, or possession of firearms to citizens; allow only citizens to vote in state or national elections; establish a national resident and visitor identification system; establish a nationwide electronic medical record.
It was widely accepted, by the mainstream media that when the Republican platform was officially announced there would be an uproar among the nation’s Democrats and staunchly conservative supporters of the 2nd Amendment. There was some degree of wailing on both sides that comes with any change. Especially proposed changes in the Constitution, the very law of the land. However, the uproar wasn’t nearly as dramatic and pervasive as predicted. The seemingly never-ending gun violence and the unwillingness of congressional leadership to do little more than offer “thoughts and prayers” had the mainstream public demanding action. And when a plan was finally proposed, even one as dramatic as the Republican presidential candidate, it fast gained voter approval. But not sufficient to swing the election.
A record sixty-one percent of registered voters turned out that first Tuesday of November. Overall, the race was amazingly close. Although it would take weeks to finalize the numbers for the popular vote they didn’t matter. The Electoral College results gave the Democrats a 283 to 250 victory. Three electors voted for the sitting POTUS, despite his not even being a candidate, one vote went to UGA, the University of Georgia mascot, and, for the second time, one to Faith Spotted Eagle. The popular vote, over sixty-seven million for the Democratic candidate, and sixty-five million for the Republican were one of the closest ever recorded. Shortly after the west coast polls closed on Tuesday night, America had a new President-Elect, a Democrat.
The Republican candidate gave his concession speech shortly before midnight Pacific time. It was widely considered the most gracious and optimistic acknowledgments of defeat ever presented.
Watching alone from his living room in the White House, the sitting POTUS was anything but gracious and optimistic. Boiling, incessant, rage replaced his simmering anger. As he listened to the man he considered nothing more than a loser, and watched the saddened faces of his crowd of supporters; he began forming his own concession. And it wouldn’t take the form of a speech.
Chapter 22
No one had ever seen the Supreme Leader in such a fit of rage. He started screaming the instant the doors closed on the sedan that drove him from the spectator area back to the waiting helicopter. He demanded the immediate execution of someone, everyone, that could be even remotely responsible for the failure. In an unusual display of bravado, his most trusted General cautioned against a purge that might set back progress on their nuclear armament program. This did not placate the Supreme Leader, but it did cause him to pause his rampage for a few heartbeats.
“You are correct,” he said, “but someone has to pay. Arrest the wife and children of everyone who is responsible. Sentence them to hard labor equal to ten times the length of time it will require us to have a successful test of our warhead reentry vehicle. Ensure everyone on the program knows of the punishment. And let them know I was lenient. I will show no mercy the next time I am publicly humiliated.” The wild, barely in control, look in the Supreme Leader’s eyes, and the spittle at the corners of his mouth sent chills up the General’s spine. And he had seen and caused unspeakable horrors.
A small group of Analysts huddled before a bank of monitors in one of the NSA buildings at Ft. Meade, Maryland. For the past ten hours, they had been monitoring activities at the Musudan-ri launch site. The KH-14 spy satellites were maneuvered into position earlier in the day and had been streaming amazingly clear, real-time video to the agency all day. The spooks were extremely interested in watching and recording today’s launch of the Hwasong-16. Its solid fuel propulsion system represented an alarming advance in North Korean missile technology. They wanted to observe and catalog the time it took to set up and launch. Far more importantly, they wanted to see the new Hwasong-16 nose cone design.
Their concern increased based on what they saw. It was obvious that the North Koreans had been dramatically successful in their efforts to reduce the size of the nosecone. This was an indicator that they had also been able to reduce the size and weight of the warhead itself. The satellite’s telescopic camera had also provided crystal clear images of the refractory material they were using to construct the nosecone’s heat shields. This represented another cause for concern. The Hwasong-16’s warhead appeared sheathed in an ablative heat shield using some unrecognizable ceramic material. This was an advanced design most likely provided by the Chinese.
The conclusion from their clandestine observations would be a highlighted entry in the President’s Daily Briefing (PDB). The PDB is a top-secret document produced by the Director of National Intelligence and provided each morning to the POTUS and a small, highly select group of government officials. Between election day and inauguration it was also offered to the President-Elect. The PDB summarized information about covert CIA, NSA, and foreign intelligence agency activities and foreign and domestic threats. It was considered one of the most closely controlled documents in the world. The PDB was normally presented by a CIA Senior Analyst personally selected and groomed by the Director.
Tomorrow’s PDB would state that the North Koreans were now technically capable of exploding a multi-megaton hydrogen bomb over any city in the United States. It had only been a matter of time before this capability became a reality. The combination of the solid fuel propulsion system, warhead miniaturization, and heat resistant nosecone had come together on the Hwasong-16. The North Korean threat was increasing logarithmically. They now had a virtually unstoppable nuclear package. The subsequent step would be mass production. All this information was gathered as the analysts observed the Hwasong-16 as it was transported and set up before its launch. The remainder of the show beamed from the satellite would be just entertainment. Then they saw the missile scream off course and explode in mid-air. Everyone in the room knew this was a game changer.
