Tom Clancy - Command Authority

Ryan blew out an angry sigh.

“I know. I’m just telling you what they are saying.”

Ryan said, “This is like the Golovko poisoning. And the Biryukov bombing. And it’s like the assassination of Oksana Zueva.”

Foley agreed. “It’s pretty much like everything FSB director Roman Talanov has a hand in. He sacrifices people for his needs. His own people. He frames people and organizations he opposes to misplace blame.”

Canfield added, “Obviously we were involved in Sevastopol, though we weren’t involved in either the Donetsk bombing or the Zueva assassination or the killings of Biryukov or Golovko. Talanov can make all the claims he wants, but there is no proof whatsoever.”

Ryan said, “The men who survived the attack in Sevastopol laid responsibility on this Russian criminal organization that has been active in Ukraine. I’ve been reading up on the Seven Strong Men for the past half-hour.”

Foley nodded. “Yes, sir. The Russians have been arming and training the Seven Strong Men as well as pro-Russian Ukrainians in the eastern part of the nation. They have created a fifth column out of the Russian mob and these armed rebels.”

Ryan asked, “Is this verifiable?”

Canfield said, “Volodin’s enemies have been trying to tie him definitively to organized crime since he left FSB and started his meteoric rise to the top in the nineties. Everyone thinks he had a lot of help along the way. But he’s kept his nose clean. That said, he’s wiped out and exposed so many gangsters in Russia it’s hard to see how anyone known to us would benefit from supporting him, with the sole exception being Seven Strong Men.”

“It’s an amorphous outfit,” Ryan said, looking down at his notes. “No one knows the identity of the leader of the organization.” He looked up. “Why can’t we figure out who the godfather is?”

Canfield said, “We’ve identified one of their high-ranking capos, he’s working out of a hotel in Kiev. He might even be their number two, but Seven Strong Men’s command structure, as you say, is all but unknown to us. We do believe, and recent events make this even more certain, that Seven Strong Men is now working as a proxy force for FSB in Ukraine.”

“Why?” Ryan asked. “I mean, what’s in it for them?”

“Good question,” said Mary Pat. “I have to suspect there is some sort of quid pro quo with the Kremlin. As in, if the Seven Strong Men help Russia take Ukraine, then Russia will turn a blind eye to Seven Strong Men activities there.”

Jack rubbed his eyes under his glasses. The Russian military, the Russian intelligence services, the Russian mob. They were all after Ukraine, and he knew that if they took Ukraine, it would only encourage them to push farther to the west.

Secretary of Defense Bob Burgess said, “Mr. President, as far as I’m concerned, the quickening of events means one thing. Russia has done all the blackmailing with pipelines and bullying with threats of violence against Ukraine it can do without actually going forward on its threats. They have upped the ante, even made attempts to marginalize the U.S. and NATO in the region.”

Ryan said, “Nothing left for Russia to do but start rolling tanks over the border.”

“Correct. JSOC and CIA assets in the east report significant movements of troops on Russia’s side of the line. Our imagery analysis confirms all that’s needed for the Russians to start rolling is the go order from the Kremlin.”

“So… what do we do, Bob?”

Burgess had been expecting the question. “Mr. President. Douglas MacArthur said every military disaster can be explained in two words: ‘Too late.’ If we were going to stop the invasion with military power, I am afraid we are already too late.”

Ryan said, “I see no way to stop Russia from taking the Crimea. It’s a semiautonomous region already, there are tens of thousands of real Russians and tens of thousands more who were handed out passports in the past year. Volodin can make the case to his people that taking the Crimea is in Russia’s national interests. This is going to happen. With Ukraine’s weak military, there is no preventing it. But I don’t want them moving further west. The more successful Volodin is, the more energetic he will be about aiming for other targets in his region.” Ryan thought for a moment. “We have a few hundred military advisers in country. Most of them are special operations troops. How much impact can they make on this?”

“A great deal. The plans have been drawn up to use existing forces there to assist the Ukrainians. We have Delta teams and Green Berets positioned in forward locations, and some British SAS as well. They all have the capability to communicate directly with Ukrainian Air Force assets. The Brits are on board with us on this. If you give the word, we can institute an operation to begin linking our laser targeting equipment to Ukrainian MiG-29 multirole fighters and Mi-24 attack helicopters. We can serve as a significant force multiplier for their Air Force. With luck, this can blunt the Russian attack.”

“Covertly?”

Burgess nodded. “Our operational plan is structured with an eye toward covert action. Having said that…” Burgess struggled with how to finish the sentence.

President Ryan said, “‘The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley.’”

“That’s right, sir.”

“Tell me about the readiness of Russian forces.”

“It’s not good, but it is better than when they attacked Georgia a few years ago. At that time the military was rife with corruption and waste, and it showed on the battlefield. They won the conflict handily, but they did so by virtue of the fact that the Georgian Army was unprepared, and poorly led by civilian leadership.

“When Volodin came into power, it was estimated that twenty percent of Russian military procurement was wasted by corruption, literally stolen by officials. That number is down to next to nothing now. With all the corruption in Russia, it is a significant thing that graft in the military is strictly off-limits.”

Ryan asked, “Can I assume he used some harsh measures to effect this improvement?”

Burgess nodded. “Some people got shot. Not many, but enough to make an impression.”

“So Russia’s military is bad, but they still have numbers.”

“More numbers than Ukraine, anyway. And there is one other thing Russia has.”

“Nukes,” Ryan said.

“Germane to any conversation involving a military conflict with the Russians.”

Ryan leaned forward on the conference table. “If we do manage to slow the Russian advance west, what are the chances they will threaten to go nuclear?”

Burgess said, “If you are asking about them using strategic nukes against us, I will be very clear. Admiral Jorgensen and I have been to several meetings about this recently at the Pentagon. Russia no longer has any ability whatsoever to execute a successful debilitating first strike on the United States. Two-thirds of their nuclear weapons are obsolete.”

Ryan had read all the reports of the meetings Burgess was talking about, so he knew this assessment by DIA and CIA.

Admiral Jorgensen said, “Can they still launch missiles that would get through any defense we have? Yes. Yes, they can. As you know, Russia has a fleet of strategic bombers permanently airborne, something that stopped with the fall of the Soviet Union but started again when Volodin decided it would make him look tough.”

Mary Pat said, “But beyond capability, there is the question of will. These aren’t Islamic fundamentalists looking to martyr themselves. Volodin and his inner circle know that any nuclear attack would mean their own deaths within hours, if not minutes.”

“And tactically?” Ryan asked.