CHAPTER 21 – THE PENTAGON MASSACRE
01:46 (Washington Time) / 09:46 (Moscow Time)
Friday, March 19, 1993 ‘C’
White House Situation Room, Washington, D.C.
U.S.A.
The White House Military Liaison Officer, who was listening to radio reports from the U.S.S. SPRUANCE, suddenly broke into a wide grin before looking at President Perot, who was sitting with the members of his National Security Council around the long conference table of the White House Situation Room.
‘’Mister President, the U.S.S. SPRUANCE just reported that our Supercar has landed safely aboard with its full SEAL team and our two downed pilots. All of them are healthy, with no casualties declared.’’
Perot, like the other men present in the Situation Room, cheered wildly on hearing that. However, their reaction changed to stunned disbelief when the liaison officer spoke again a few seconds later.
‘’Uh, the SPRUANCE is also reporting that our Supercar shot down one Caucasian helicopter and two MIG-21 interceptors during its mission. More details will follow in about one hour, when our SEAL team commander will send his mission report.’’
‘’They shot down two MIG-21s and one helicopter?’’ exclaimed General Joseph Rawlington, the commander of the U.S. Air Force. ‘’How could that be possible?’’
General Edward White, the commander of the U.S. Space Corps, gave him a dubious look while replying to his remark.
‘’With General Dows at the controls of our Supercar, you better believe it, General Rawlington. She has been our Ace of aces since World War 2 and still is by a wide margin. If she claims to have shot down those planes, then don’t insult her by doubting her claims. From what I know about that Supercar prototype, it is armed with two Minigun 7.62mm gatling machine guns, enough to shoot down those planes.’’
‘’We will discuss that in depth once we get the mission report from our SEAL team commander, gentlemen.’’ cut in Perot. ‘’Right now, we better deal with the possible fallouts from this situation, particularly the reactions to be expected from the leaders of this Caucasus Independent Republic. General Walters, I want our forces around the Caucasus region to go to DEFCON 2 and to be ready to repeal any hostile move or action coming from the Caucasus Republic or from other parts of the Soviet Union.’’
Perot then let the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and his service deputies time to call their respective service headquarters to pass the change to the U.S. Defensive Condition before speaking again, addressing his Secretary of State, Daniel Inouye.
‘’Dan, if the leaders of this Caucasus Republic call up to either protest about our rescue mission or to threaten some retaliatory move against us, you can tell them that any hostile action from them against the United States, its citizens or its interests will be met with a massive military response. Emphasize the word ‘massive’ in particular: right now, I am sorely tempted to force back into line all those tinpot dictators around what was the Soviet Union.’’
‘’Yes, Mister President. I believe that we should also publish an advisory to all our citizens to avoid traveling to the Soviet Union and its satellite states.’’
‘’A good idea, Dan. In fact, make that advisory an interdiction, plus order any of our citizens presently inside the Soviet Union to leave at once. Call your State Department now to transmit that order.’’
‘’Right away, Mister President!’’
As Inouye made his call, Perot looked in succession at his military service chiefs present around the conference table. Due to the seriousness of the situation, those who had been absent from Washington had been urgently recalled for this meeting. A review of the classified minutes of the more recent meetings of the Joint Chiefs had told Perot and his vice-president, Vice Admiral James Stockdale, that not all of the service chiefs had been present at the meeting where the failed reconnaissance flight over the Caucasus area had been decided. In particular, the commanders of the Space Corps, the Coast Guard and the Army were not in Washington at the time, either visiting or inspecting units around the United States or even overseas. Perot thus eyed with a dark expression the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Walters; the CNO, Admiral Jackson; the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Mundy; and the Commander of the Air Force, General Rawlington. All of them now appeared nervous, and for good reasons.
‘’Gentlemen, now that we are mostly out of the shit pit some of you put our nation in by deciding to send this doomed strategic reconnaissance plane over the Caucasus, I believe it is time to reset the clock. General Walters, please tell me why you deemed that letting me know about that reconnaissance mission was not necessary? Even more, why did you reject the advice of your own deputy, General Herres, who wanted me to be advised of that proposed mission, so that I could give my authorization to it?’’
‘’Because I deemed that reconnaissance mission to be a routine one not worthy of your attention, Mister President.’’ replied Walters, doing his best to look confident. Perot nearly exploded on hearing his excuse.
‘’A routine mission? You consider sending a reconnaissance plane on a low altitude mission over hostile territory while searching for mobile nuclear missile launchers a routine affair? Who are you trying to kid, General? Sending such a mission was clearly up to me to authorize!’’
Perot then looked collectively at Admiral Jackson, General Rawlington and General Mundy, anger in his eyes.
‘’You three were present at that meeting of the Joint Chiefs where this mission was ordered launched, yet none of you insisted on the need for me to be informed. May I remind you that I was elected as Commander in Chief of the United States and not you? You are supposed to advise me, not to decide in my place in matters that could result into a significant threat to this country. If you judge that potentially attracting the ire of a bunch of tinpot dictators who possibly control nuclear ICBMs is not a significant threat to the United, then that leaves me with no confidence about your advice or judgment. General Walters, Admiral Jackson, General Rawlington and General Mundy, I am relieving you of your posts effective tomorrow at noon. You will then pass command to your respective deputies. Since this whole affair is of a classified and very sensitive nature, I forbid all of you from making public declarations about it or divulge anything about it, except to your deputies and relevant operational staff.’’
Perot next looked at the commander of the U.S. Army, General Vincent.
‘’General Vincent, while you were not present at that meeting and learned of this reconnaissance mission only a few days after it was authorized by General Walters, you did not insist with him that I should have been informed of it. While you can keep your present post for the time being, I will expect some better judgment and backbone on your part from now on.’’
Looking back at Admiral Jackson, Perot aggressively pointed an index at him.
‘’It took the initiative and good conscience of a Navy officer for me to know about this screwup. If I hear that you or your deputy retaliates in any way against that naval officer, which I will leave unnamed, then there will be consequences. Do you understand me, Admiral?’’
While keeping a facial expression that was close to arrogant, Jackson answered the President at once.
‘’Yes, Mister President!’’
‘’Very well! Commander McKinley, where is the U.S.S. SPRUANCE presently?’’
‘’It is still in the Black Sea, some fifty nautical miles from the coasts of Turkey, but is now sailing at top speed towards the Bosporus. Once in the Mediterranean, it will sail east to the port of Tarsus, where our SEAL team and our two rescued pilots will fly out and go to our airbase of Incirlik. Once there, our people and their Supercar will get into a cargo plane and fly back to the United States, Mister President.’’
‘’Excellent! I can’t wait to meet with these heroes. I now declare this meeting over. This was a long day and evening and we could all use some sleep.’’
As the participants started to file out of the Situation Room, the Vice-President came to Perot and spoke to him in a near whisper.
‘’Ross, there is something I would like to discuss with you early tomorrow morning, concerning this crisis. There is something broken in our military chain of command and I believe that it will take more than a few dismissals to rectify the situation in the long term.’’
‘’Very well, James. Come and see me at nine in the morning. We will then discuss privately in the Oval Office.’’
09:24 (Washington Time)
Wednesday, March 24, 1993 ‘C’
Secure meeting room of the U.S. Senate
Capitol Building, Washington, D.C.
The 37 senior members from both the U.S. Senate and from the U.S. House of Representatives called in to the secure meeting room were wondering between themselves why they were there when the Vice-President, who was also the president of the U.S. Senate, Vice Admiral James Stockdale, entered the room, making them all get up from their chairs as a sign of respect for his position.
‘’Please, sit down, lady and gentlemen!’’ said at once Stockdale before going to the chair reserved for him. Once sitting down, he looked around at the persons present, composed of the leaders of both the Senate and the House and of the members of the two armed service committees of the Congress.
‘’As you must know now from yesterday’s newspapers front pages, the President fired on last Friday the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Chief of Naval Operations, the commander of the Air Force and the Commandant of the Marine Corps. This is now commonly called ‘The Pentagon Massacre’ by the news medias. The reasons for this grave but justified decision stemmed from a highly classified military incident which happened a week ago. Basically, those members of the Joint Chiefs decided to send one of our reconnaissance planes on a high-risk, low-level mission over the Caucasus region of the old Soviet Union, and this without informing the President of it or seeking his approval for such a mission. Captain Merrick, first slide, please!’’
The Army officer standing by next to the retro-projector of the meeting room then dimmed the lights and put on the first slide of Stockdale’s presentation. Exclamations went around the room when a map of the Black Sea and Caucasus area appeared on a wide wall screen, with the itinerary of a flight path on it, along with a number of symbols.
‘’Wait!’’ nearly shouted Sam Nunn, the Democrat chairing the Senate Armed Service Committee. ‘’You said that our plane flew at low level over this tinder box? We were never informed about that mission. And what was the exact goal of that mission?’’
‘’Our plane was tasked with taking air samples and radiation readings, in order to find if a number of mobile ICBM launchers were now inside the territory of the so-called Caucasus Independent Republic, which has proved up to now to be little more than a breakaway region of the Soviet Union led by a group of tinpot military dictators. While the goal of our plane’s mission may seem reasonable to you, it could have been filled in a lot safer manner by the reconnaissance spaceplanes of our Space Corps. Unfortunately, the Air Force chief, General Rawlington, apparently wanted to show that his own planes could do the job and thus pushed for that at a meeting of the Joint Chiefs where the Commandant of the Space Corps was not present. It was also decided at that same meeting not to inform the President of this mission or seek his approval for it. As you can see on this slide, things didn’t end well for that mission once launched. While the exact causes are still under investigation, our aircraft caught fire and crashed in the area of Rostov-on-Don, at the northeastern tip of the Sea of Azov. The two pilots of our plane were able to eject and then transmitted briefly a distress signal, but had to hide and evade Caucasus ground units which were then sent to find and capture them.’’
The sole woman present in the room, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, then asked a question as many of her colleagues were shaking their heads while looking at the slide on the wall screen.
‘’And were our two pilots able to escape from the Caucasus?’’
Stockdale then smiled for the first time during his presentation.
‘’Thankfully, yes! A SEAL team sent to the rescue arrived just in time to extract them minutes before they could be captured by Caucasus soldiers. They are now back in the United States, along with their saviors.’’
‘’Well, at least those idiots at the Joint Chiefs had thought of a plan ‘B’ to go with this ill-advised mission.’’ Said Sam Nunn, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. However, that made Stockdale slowly shake his head in response.
‘’No, they had not, Senator Nunn. That SEAL team was alerted to this situation only AFTER our plane crashed in the Caucasus. The SEAL team then had to improvise very quickly a plan to get our pilots back.’’
‘’But…wasn’t there some backup or contingency plan in case that our plane went down during the mission?’’ asked a scandalized John Kasich Jr, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, making Stockdale shake his head again.
‘’No! The only special directive, given in person to the pilots by General Rawlington, was for them to commit suicide rather than let themselves be captured alive.’’
That last sentence created at once a wave of scandalized exclamations among the Congress members sitting around the table. Senator John Warner, himself an experienced military veteran, then resumed the thoughts of the majority.
‘’Our Air Force had no better contingency plan than to tell our pilots to commit suicide if in danger of capture? That’s chicken shit!’’
‘’Oh, I fully agree with you, Senator Warner. That’s why the President is planning to have General Rawlington and General Walters court-martialed on charges of negligent performance of duty and of gross incompetence connected to this affair.’’
‘’And those charges seem to be most warranted, I would say. How about those downed pilots and the SEAL team that rescued them? It sounds like they would deserve to be rewarded for their courage, in my humble opinion.’’
‘’Again, I fully agree with you on that, Senator Warner, and so does the President. Before naming them all, let me show you how the rescue mission proceeded. Captain Merrick, second slide, please!’’
The members of Congress were then able to see a slide on which a second itinerary, traced in green, went from Turkish territory, then to the Black Sea, then to the Sea of Azov and to the Rostov area. Senator John warner involuntarily opened his mouth as he eyed the itinerary of the rescue team.
‘’My God! This looks to me like a near-suicidal operation. How did our SEAL team manage to pass through the Kerch Strait without being detected?’’
‘’By passing through while submerged, Senator Warner. They were using the prototype of a new machine meant to replace our actual swimming delivery vehicles. That machine, the Hiller SUPERCAR, had only been flight-tested twice before the head of our Naval Special Warfare Group went to Hiller and asked if he could use it. The designer of the Supercar and Mister Hiller agreed, with the said designer also offering herself as a pilot for the mission, as no Navy member had yet been trained on that new machine, which is of a truly revolutionary design.’’
‘’Wait!’’ shouted at once Patricia Schroeder. ‘’You are saying that a civilian woman participated directly in that rescue mission?’’
‘’Yes, but that woman is no ordinary person. Third slide, please!’’
A new slide appeared on the screen, showing a most unusual type of craft in the center, surrounded by eight small pictures with captions distributed along the sides. Patricia Schroeder’s eyes bulged on examining the picture of a teenage girl in civilian outfit near the top left corner of the slide.
‘’General Dows? But she retired from the service years ago! And she designed this machine?’’
‘’Like she designed the now famous and popular Hiller AIRCAR and Hiller AIR BIKE, Congresswoman Schroeder. I however must correct you about one detail. While General Dows retired from active duty some eight years ago, she is still a reservist officer on inactive status and still periodically flies training missions on military planes in order to keep her pilot qualifications current in case a future conflict would force us to activate our reserve forces.’’
‘’So, General Dows came to the rescue…again.’’ said John Warner. ‘’That woman is pure gold.’’
‘’But she is also pure poison for our enemies, Senator Warner.’’ replied Stockdale, smiling. ‘’Captain Merrick, put on Slide Number Five, please.’’
The assembled Congress members were soon able to look at a slide with three photos shown on it, which Stockdale then described with a gleeful smile.
‘’The Hiller SUPERCAR, while already a fantastic machine, also happens to be armed with a pair of medium machine guns meant to support the SEAL commandos it can transport. When our SEAL team arrived where our two pilots were hiding, a Caucasus forces helicopter was already hovering near our pilots and ordering them to surrender, while a column of military trucks was approaching. Our two pilots were about to commit suicide when our Hiller SUPERCAR arrived on the scene and intervened to save our pilots. The top picture you see, taken by the gun camera slaved to the machine guns of our Supercar, shows that Caucasus Air Force helicopter being shot down by General Dows, who was piloting her Supercar for this mission. The two photos below that first picture show the moments when two MIG-21 fighter jets which tried to intercept our Supercar were downed by General Dows.’’
‘’SHE MANAGED TO SHOOT DOWN TWO SUPERSONIC JET FIGHTERS?!’’ exclaimed Warner, incredulous. Stockdale nodded his head once at those words.
‘’Yes, she did and thus showed that she is still our Ace of aces, with that helicopter and two MIG-21s bringing her lifetime air victory score to 169. While that Hiller SUPERCAR proved to be a fantastic machine with some incredible performances, General Dows’ expert handling of it made that rescue mission a success.’’
‘’Damn! I would gladly recommend her for a medal, but she already has about all of them, including two Medals of Honor and the Medal of Freedom.’’
‘’Yet, the President firmly intends to reward her, along with the SEAL commandos who went with her, plus our two downed pilots, for escaping capture for nearly two full days while inside hostile territory.’’
‘’And I will be happy to support any recommendation for medals, Admiral Stockdale. I hope that, after such a performance, the Navy will buy a number of those fantastic Hiller SUPERCARs?’’
‘’Oh, we definitely will, Senator Warner. That machine could in fact be used by combat rescue teams of all our armed services, meaning the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, Space Corps and Coast Guard. It is just too good to be passed over for acquisition. I will now pass to the second part of my presentation, which deals with the aftermaths of this rescue mission. Captain Merrick, put up Slide Number Six, please.’’
The Congress members then saw an organigram showing the overall command structure of the American armed forces, which Stockdale proceeded on commenting and explaining.
‘’What you see is the present command structure of our armed forces, as it has been since 1947, when the U.S. Air Force was split from the Army. At the top is the President, who is the Commander in Chief of our military. Directly under him is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who acts as the President’s top military advisor, while the Secretary of Defense and his service deputies administer our forces and plan their growth and evolution. As for the members of the Joint Chiefs, they act as administrators of their respective services and as military advisors to the President, under the direction of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Then, we have our various theater commands and specialized logistical and technical support commands. While the United States has prevailed in all our past conflicts, except for the Korean War, that is despite of that command structure, not thanks to it.’’
‘’Uh, what do you mean by that, Admiral?’’ asked a confused Robert Byrd, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. ‘’What is wrong with that command structure, in your opinion?’’
‘’What is wrong is that there is no direct, unified strategic and operational command for our forces in times of war. Let’s use a hypothetical scenario to explain my point. Imagine that we suddenly and simultaneously faced military hostilities in both the Pacific and in the Middle East, which is far from being an improbable scenario. If that happens, then our theater commanders in both the Pacific and in the Middle East will fight with their combat units, each on their own sides. If they needed reinforcements or support from other commands, then they would have to ask the Pentagon, meaning the Joint Chiefs and our National Military Command Center, or NMCC, for that support. In the case of a direct military threat against the continental United States, like the threat of a nuclear war, then our various combat units based in our country would fight off that threat under the direction of the Pentagon. This may sound like a functional arrangement but, in reality, it is not.’’
‘’And what problems do you see about that, Admiral?’’
‘’The main problem is that there is no single combat senior officer in charge of all this. The job of the Joint Chiefs is mostly to coordinate the daily activities of the various armed services, while designing contingency plans for possible future conflicts. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, while nominally above the service chiefs, is of the same rank as them and has to discuss with his chiefs and establish a consensus on what to do about a particular situation. That is where the age-old problem of interservice rivalry can clog things, like in the case of this failed reconnaissance mission over the Caucasus. Basically, our Space Command could have done the job in a much safer way, but the Air Force pushed for the use of its own planes, profiting from the fact that the head of the Space Command was absent from Washington at the time, inspecting our orbital space station. General Walters agreed to let General Rawlington do things his way, but did not inform either the President or our various theater commanders around the World about this mission. As a result, when that plane crashed inside the Caucasus area, there were no American forces nearby ready to react to that. It took the initiative of a lowly rear admiral, who contacted on his own the Hiller Corporation and asked to use their prototype Supercar, to see a SEAL team sent with some chances to succeed on what was very nearly a suicidal mission. As for our NMCC, its commanding officer is only a brigadier general or rear admiral and, while he can help coordinate the actions of our various theater commands and units, he has only a very limited capability to give orders to these commands. Basically, for anything major, he has to contact the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and wait for the latter to take a decision after discussing the situation with his Joint Chiefs. Do you see the problem here?’’
‘’I do!’’ said at once John Warner. ‘’This may have been acceptable in the past, when weapons did not have intercontinental ranges and when there were no true instant global communications, but not today, with intercontinental ballistic missiles able to hit us in minutes and with jet bombers and tactical missiles able to strike our forces quickly. Our present command arrangement wastes a ton of precious time by having to communicate between various headquarters and by having a group of men at the Pentagon being obliged to come to a group consensus before they could issue orders. There is no true unity of command in all this and we certainly can’t expect or even want to see the President issue combat orders directly from his Oval Office.’’
James Stockdale nodded his head slowly, happy to see that at least one member of Congress had been able to see that problem.
‘’Very good, Senator Warner! You hit the nail right on the head.’’
‘’But what could we do to correct that problem, Admiral?’’ asked Ronald Dellums, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.
‘’I believe that the solution would be to have one senior, combat-experienced commander atop our military command structure, who would have the authority and competence to directly command all of our theater commands and combat units in a truly coordinated and unified way, free of the usual interservice rivalry. Furthermore, that top military commander should have a higher rank than four-star general or admiral, so that he could bypass the Joint Chiefs and their lengthy discussions and act quickly to counter new threats. For this, we would have to revive the rank of five-star general, which faded away after World War 2, with a combined operational staff under that commander to execute and pass his orders. As for the role of the Joint Chiefs, it should be limited to organizational, training, support and budgetary matters.’’
‘’So, you are basically proposing to create the position of a five-star military commander-in-chief with direct and instant authority over all of our armed forces, is that it, Admiral?’’ asked John Warner
‘’That is exactly what I am proposing, Senator. The times for combat decisions by committee should end now.’’
‘’And who would decide on who that military commander-in-chief would be? How could we ensure that the candidate for such a powerful position is both competent and suitable for the job?’’ asked Bob Dole, the Senate Minority Leader.
‘’The President would choose that candidate, based on his joint command military experience, high degree of initiative and demonstrated past competence in command in times of war. That military commander-in-chief would serve at the pleasure of the President, but could hold the position as long as successive presidents approve of his or her performance in the position. That would ensure that we would not create some sort of American military Caesar. Also, such candidates should be vetted and approved by the Congress, with the hope that base politics will not corrupt such vetting proceedings. What we want is a highly competent military strategist, not some political sycophant or partisan demagogue.’’
‘’Hum, I would tend to agree with your views, Admiral,’’ said Tom Foley, the Democrat House Speaker, ‘’but do we even have someone worthy of that position right now?’’
‘’Come on!’’ said at once Patricia Schroeder, anger flashing in her. ‘’It should be obvious who could fill such a position as our military commander-in-chief, unless of course you would refuse to contemplate her simply because she is a woman. General Ingrid Dows has saved the bacon of this nation many times during the past decades and played a vital role in winning many of our past wars. She helped General MacArthur defend successfully the Philippines in 1942, devised our Europe landing plans in 1944 and its subsequent push to the Rhine, was next to the only senior commander in the Korean War to show true competence in both air and ground combat, commanded our expeditionary forces in Vietnam and in Israel, devised the tactical air campaign which stopped dead the Soviet invasion of Poland in 1955 and averted many more wars thanks to her diplomatic and strategic savvy. She also opened Space for us and traveled as far as Jupiter and Saturn. She also worked directly under both democratic and republican presidents and never showed political partisanship, always working for the good of our nation. To top the cake, she is basically ageless and could fill the post for the decades to come. I say: let’s name General Dows as our military commander-in-chief, serving at the pleasure of the President.’’
‘’Wait a minute!’’ objected James Strom Thurmond, the Republican ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. ‘’That Dows has interfered many times in the past with internal affairs of our Southern States and…’’
‘’YOU WOULD REJECT HER BECAUSE SHE IS AGAINST RACISM, IS THAT IT, SENATOR THURMOND?’’ exploded Schroeder, who intensely disliked the old segregationist politician. ‘’HOW ABOUT THINKING ABOUT THE GOOD OF THE WHOLE NATION RATHER THAN CONTINUE JUSTIFYING YOUR DESPICABLE JIM CROW LAWS?’’
‘’PLEASE, LET’S STAY CIVIL!’’ shouted James Stockdale, before he gave a dark look at Thurmond. ‘’Senator Thurmond, what I am proposing is to name a military commander-in-chief, not some toady of your Southern States. That military commander-in-chief will solely act as a top strategic military commander and will have nothing to do with the national political affairs of this nation. I thus find your argument both disingenuous and, to say frankly, downright crass and bigoted. Now, what I need from you, members of the Congress, is your approval in principle to create such a new position, revive the old rank of five-star general and revise the role of the present Joint Chiefs. Do I have such an approval from you?’’
The 37 politicians looked at each other for a moment, exchanging comments and opinions before a wide majority of them declared their consent, with the notable exceptions being Strom Thurmond and Newt Gingrich.