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Dangerous Grounds Reviews

AUGUST 2016

143

THE SUBMARINE REVIEW

we have to assume it wasn’t to keep themselves warm in the winter. Whatever their use is going to be, it won’t be good news for us or anyone else in the world.”
Dr. Kinnowitz moved over to stand next to Admiral Donnegan. “Whether or not we know the purpose of the weapons doesn’t really affect the decision to verify their existence and to destroy them if we can,” he added.
President Brown nodded thoughtfully. His brow was creased in deep furrows as he tried to absorb all this bad news. He waved his hand for Admiral Donnegan to continue.
“We are reasonably certain that the weapons didn’t stay in Najin very long. There doesn’t look to be a facility there to handle them and we’ve seen no unusual activity. But we have satellite imagery of trucks hauling what could be weapons on the coast highway south of town. Unfortunately, we are not completely positive of the trucks’ destination. We had a gap in coverage during that time period. The trucks were gone when we regained coverage. They could not have gotten to the next town. Not enough time for that. So the weapons have to be somewhere along this stretch of road.” The red dot of the pointer danced along an isolated section of the highway that snaked along the coastline. “We think we know of three possible locations where they could be.”
Donnegan next moved his laser pointer in turn to three spots on the topographic map of the area.
“These three points are all new construction facilities in relatively rugged country. Each would be the perfect place for hiding an important secret. There are copies of imagery from the latest Keyhole satellite pass in your folders.” Donnegan pointed toward the thin, black notebooks on the table in front of each person in the room. The words “Top Secret, Special Compartmented Information” were stamped across the front of each notebook in two- inch-tall red letters. “As you can see, there is nothing to single out any one of the sites. We will need to check them all out.”
President Brown opened his notebook and stared intently at the 8×10 images. He closed the cover again and looked up.

144

AUGUST 2016

THE SUBMARINE REVIEW

“Hell, since the experts can’t differentiate anything, there’s no reason for me to think I can. Okay, Admiral, what is the plan?”
“Mr. President, we put a small SEAL team ashore that deploys simultaneously to each site. They carry self-defense weapons and some very sensitive monitoring equipment. With luck, they should be able to detect the presence of those 53-65s without needing to actually see them or lay their hands on them. Once they have found the weapons, they send the location back to the command and control team in Yokosuka. The target coordinates are sent to the submarine for a Tomahawk strike. The SEAL team stays in position to verify destruction and then they are extracted by the sub. The area has no civilian population so collateral damage will be minimal. The only people at risk are the garrison that is likely guarding the site. Oh, and our SEALs, of course. Any questions?”
The room was deathly silent. Each man was contemplating the import of what they were being asked to consider. Placing troops on the ground in a foreign country. Shooting missiles into that country and blowing things up. So many things could go wrong. President Brown rose and looked to his right and then to his left. He spent a few seconds looking into the face of each man. These were his most trusted advisors. He knew any one of them would not hesitate to raise a howl if he had qualms. No one spoke.
The President turned and looked at Donnegan and Kinnowitz. “You are certain of the intelligence we have? You are positive we need to do this? There’s no other way we can find out for sure where these bastards have hidden those weapons?”
Donnegan answered smartly, “Yes, sir.” “There’s no other alternative?” “This is the best one we have.”
President Brown straightened before he spoke again. There was a note of finality in his voice.
“Carry out the mission. Put together whatever resources you need. You have to get those nukes before they use them.” He paused for a second and then added, “And gentlemen, don’t try to micro-manage this from Langley or the Pentagon. Get someone you trust to take charge on scene and let him do his job.”
Yes, sir!” both men said in unison.

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