Book 2: Episode 16

United States Northern Command

Peterson Space Force Base, El Paso County, CO

“Recommend DEFCON 3.”

Wilkes shook his head.  Higher DEFCON levels were often practiced by the US Military but rarely implemented in practice.  There were only a handful of times that the US military had raised the Defense Readiness Condition or DEFCON above four.  Five was the normal peacetime condition, and one was full-on nuclear war.  As it was, DEFCON 3 put the USAF on a 15-minute readiness state which was incredibly expensive to maintain.  “I don’t think the boss is going to go for that.”

Captain Jameson, the intelligence officer across the table from Wilkes banged the table with his hand in frustration.  “Sir, this seems very serious to me.  We have confirmed Russian agents in Mexico and now we have lost lock on their senior military command.”

“Which means what, exactly?”

“Sir, I have no idea, but it scares the hell out of me.”

“Me too, son.”  Wilkes looked down to the briefing document in his hands.  “I’ll present this to the boss but expect DEFCON 4 at the best.”

“Well, that’s better than nothing, but I maintain my recommendation.  Sir.”

“Understood.  Dismissed.”

Of course, there was no way the Joint Chiefs were going to maintain a ROUND HOUSE” alert indefinitely.  There had to be some clear and imminent threat to the USA which presently there was no evidence of at all.  However, DEFCON 4 was something that the USA had supported for long periods of time during previous periods of uncertainty.

DEFCON 4 was mostly about alerting commands to possible threats, but it also included standard increased security measures across the board.  In the case of Northern Command, it meant that the backup NORAD command facility at Cheyenne Mountain was to be staffed at all times and include at least one flag officer. Unsurprisingly, the request to go to a higher alert level was denied by upper echelons.  What was surprising was a follow up note saying that the secretary of the Air Force had resigned. A hold over from the previous administration, he had been one of the few voices in the Pentagon speaking out against America’s recent pull back from traditional allies like Mexico and Canada.