In the Pentagon conference room, the conference table was packed. Sitting here right now is almost the core of the American power class.
Not only senior officials from the Department of Defense, but also politicians from the White House rarely visited this conference room. Looking to the left of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, there are then-President Hillary Clinton, her chief of staff, and the White House’s national security adviser.
The atmosphere at the conference table was very depressing, and everyone looked unhappy.
At this time, the door of the conference room opened, and a young man in a suit strode in with a thick stack of documents in his hands.
"Morrell, you're late." Ashton Carter said dissatisfied.
"Sorry, it took a while to print these materials... Where is my seat?"
"There are a lot of people today." Mr. Carter sighed and looked at the assistant standing next to him, "Bring a chair over for Mr. Morel."
"Okay." The assistant nodded, turned and walked out the door.
Hillary exchanged glances with her chief of staff, then looked at Ashton.
"Now that everyone is here, can we start?"
"Of course," Ashton nodded and looked at Morel, "Then, let's start quickly, starting from the page about the Guam military base."
"Okay, OSS." Morel immediately turned the document to the report page of the Guam military base. He didn't care about the lack of chairs and just stood at the table and read, "At three o'clock in the morning on July 24th, At that point, the Dolphin-10 ballistic missile of Xinghuan Trading was launched from the undersea missile silo in the Western Pacific. When the missile rose to the stratosphere, it briefly appeared on the THAAD anti-missile system deployed at the Guam military base... "
"A brief appearance?" Hilary raised her eyebrows and tapped the pen lightly on the notebook, interrupting Morel's speech. "I want to know how many minutes this brief moment lasted?"
After hearing this question, Morel's expression suddenly became awkward, and he glanced at his immediate boss, Ashton, subtly.
However, the latter did not understand and just said impatiently.
"The president asked you a question, don't take up our time."
"yes… "
Morel nodded quickly and looked at Hillary. After hesitating for a moment, he finally made up his mind to tell everyone here the truth.
"Two seconds."
The conference room fell silent.
Although it had always been quiet, Morel felt a deathly silence at this moment.
"...Thank you." After taking the chair from the assistant, Morel breathed a sigh of relief, whispered his thanks, and sat on the chair.
He really didn't want to bear the feeling of eyes focused on him for a second.
The silence lasted for a while on the conference table before Hillary broke the silence, looked at Ashton and said.
"The budget of the Ministry of National Defense is not enough. Tell me. There is no need to play tricks in this kind of meeting."
Ashton looked confused and had not yet recovered from the two seconds.
Two seconds
How can this be!
Since the Moro War of Independence, the Star Ring trade used intercontinental missiles to force the United States to make concessions, and the United States has strengthened its anti-missile deployment at the military base in Guam. Not only has the most advanced THAAD system been deployed at the Guam military base, but the radar of the original Patriot 3 air defense system has also been updated...
However, now, the person in charge of the Guam military base told him that they only observed it for two seconds
And it is during the acceleration stage when the missile is most easily captured by radar and intercepted from the launch point to low orbit!
Seeing that his boss didn't speak for a long time, Morel thought that he needed to come to his rescue, so he bit the bullet and continued.
"No, this has nothing to do with the budget... The Dolphin-10 anti-detection level is very high. Not only us, but our ally Japan did not even notice that the Star Ring trade used ballistic missiles... "
"What on earth do you do with a budget of 600 billion US dollars every year? How come you can't even catch the missiles of a small country." A White House official couldn't help but curse.
"This cannot be entirely our fault! We are developing anti-missile technology, and they are also upgrading ballistic missile technology!"
"Haha, let's explain it to the taxpayers!"
“…”
There was a quarrel at the conference table, but Hillary, who was the first to speak, fell silent at this time.
Using intercontinental missiles to shoot a neighboring country that is only a few hundred kilometers away is no different from using a cannon to kill mosquitoes. It’s obvious that Star Ring Trade is doing this out of spite. It was clearly aimed at the Philippines, but in fact it challenged the investigation capabilities of the THAAD system.
If you can't even detect traces of missiles, let alone anti-missile weapons.
Hillary suddenly discovered pessimistically that whether it was EM or missile technology, Star Ring trade seemed to be ahead of the United States.
The tragedy in Manila has proven the horrific destructive power of EM weapons on modern civilization.
The entire city returned to the Stone Age overnight, with everything from transportation to social order destroyed. There is no pollution left, and no one will even die, but the consequences are more terrifying than killing tens of thousands of people.
If EM detonated over Los Angeles, Boston, or even Washington...
Hillary couldn't imagine it, but one thing was certain.
The entire world economy will decline for at least twenty years as a result.
Since the Cuban Missile Crisis, the national security situation of the United States has never been so severe...
"Immediately increase the research and development budget for anti-EM technology! I don't want to wait until the EM strike falls on us, and the only things the entire country can move are tanks and armored vehicles. There are also anti-missile systems! If THAAD is no longer good, then we will replace it. Get rid of THAAD! Within five months, I ask the Pentagon to come up with a solution! If it doesn't work, then replace it." Hillary stared at Ashton and said in a non-joking tone.
The latter held his breath and nodded with a stiff neck.
"I promise."
"Well, today's meeting is over." Hillary stood up.
Seeing that Hillary was about to leave the meeting, Morel said hurriedly before finishing the report.
"Wait a minute, there is also the issue of network security! Regarding Starring Trading's network attack on the Philippines, we sent network security experts to remotely assist the Philippine government in its defense—"
"Then you lost, right?" Hilary looked at Morel with a sly smile, her crow's feet and narrowed eyes becoming a gap, "I don't want to hear you report your incompetence, I hope you can get it as soon as possible Come up with a solution!”
"Yes..." After swallowing, Morel nodded stiffly.
Then, Hillary looked at her chief of staff.
"Help me adjust my schedule, cancel my afternoon and evening activities, and free up the rest of the day. I have to go to the United Nations later, and EM weapons must be restricted. Later I will go to the CIA , and have Naomi Madden waiting for me in the office.”
"Okay." The chief of staff nodded.
"In addition, send John Kerry to Manila and we must talk to Jiang Chen." (.)