Without missing a beat, Steve confidently responded, “We look back at President Reagan’s speech about the Evil Empire-those words galvanized the nation. Of course, we’ll need to work on updating it to our current time and situation, but we’ll go with something along those lines.”
Gates gave a half nod. He didn’t like the thought of stealing ideas, but he knew Saunders well enough to know that his finished work would be acceptably original.
The President then turned to his senior advisor, Jonathan Rosenblatt, and asked, “Thoughts on end state? What do we want it to look like?” He knew John was not in favor of this option, but he also knew John would identify a set of objectives that was feasible, and not some “pie in the sky” idea that Steve might want to try and unsuccessfully pursue.
“For the record, Mr. President, I do not agree with this decision,” Jonathan began, taking one last attempt to put his two cents in. “However, I have identified what I believe to be a suitable end state given that this is the direction you want to move towards. We should use this war with Russia and the massive buildup of our forces to also deal with North Korea. They have been a problem since the end of the Korean War in 1953, and they can no longer be allowed to continue on their current path. They now have ICBMs that can hit the West Coast, and if given more time, they will be able to equip those missiles with nuclear weapons. Heck, they might be able to do that now. We cannot allow the US or our allies to be faced with nuclear blackmail for the foreseeable future.”
The President nodded, and Jonathan continued with his assessment. “Presently, we cannot do anything about the Chinese annexation of Laos, Vietnam, or Myanmar, but we can let them know that we will not tolerate the annexation of Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, or Taiwan. If we are going to stand up to China and the rest of the world, then we need to stand strong and be willing to use our growing military. A lot of countries are going to test us over the next few months. Some may even attack our allies, knowing that we are not in a position to stop them. If we move forward with this draft and military buildup, we may be able to deter them from those ambitions, even if just for a short while.”
No one in the room had any objections to anything Rosenblatt had just said, so Gates signaled to his Chief of Staff, Ishaan Patel, to speak next. “Ishaan, how do we get the Congress on board with this and approve the draft, along with the equipment and money we will need to make this happen?”
Ishaan sighed deeply before responding, “Very carefully, Mr. President. Congress just officially declared war on Russia last week. The defense spending authorization bill is nearing completion right now. I believe we should try to get them to tack on the draft Admiral Meyer is requesting along with the additional monies that will be needed for the war. However, the real problem is going to be figuring out how to pay for it… the conservatives are going to cry foul on the cost because we are probably talking about a defense bill that is going to be over one trillion dollars. The liberals are going to cry foul on the draft and what they will see as an expansion of the war. Even if the war is currently against Russia, they are going to see this as a stepping stone to additional wars.”
Gates then walked around to the chair he had previously been sitting in and sat down. He looked at Steve and said, “Well, there is one way to make sure we get both the liberals and conservatives on board. We raise a war tax to help pay for the war, thus ensuring that the draft does not disproportionately hit minorities or the poor. What are your thoughts on how we do that?”
Ishaan nodded in agreement but wanted to hear Saunders’ ideas before he jumped back into the conversation. Stephen crossed his arms somewhat defensively before he admitted, “Mr. President, the tax is absolutely necessary. This war is going to be costly, and we cannot just run up the debt on this one. During World War II, the Congress instituted a war tax and they also heavily pushed government war bonds; I think current circumstances would point us towards doing the same thing now. To make sure the conservatives stay on board, we can put a sunset clause on the tax. That way the tax will end when the conflict has finished or the debt from the war has been fully repaid.”
The President raised his hand to stop Steve. “While the discussion of a tax is something we should talk over further, I want to stay focused on the draft,” Gates said as he signaled for Admiral Meyers and the NSA to continue talking.
McMillan jumped back in to provide his own input with regards to the draft. He couldn’t let the good Admiral have all the credit. “Steve brought up a good point about the draft not being directed at the poor and minorities like it appeared to have been in the past. When we announce the draft, we should also ensure that there are no deferments. No one should get out of it because they are able to afford college while others are not. If someone is in college and gets drafted, then I think they should have the option of going in as an officer if they are beyond their sophomore year. We also make sure there are no exceptions that can be handed out by those who are politically connected.”
Gates nodded in approval. McMillan took the green light to keep going. “I’d even go one step further, Mr. President. If any member of Congress has a son or daughter of military age, then at least one member of their family should be drafted and have to serve. This will ensure that people are not able to get out of service to their country because their parent is a political figure and thus able to shield them. This war is a threat against our country’s very survival; the burden of fighting it should be shouldered by every social and economic class,” Tom concluded.
Admiral Meyer was smiling from ear to ear.
The President also smiled at that idea. He turned to Ishaan and Admiral Meyer and ordered, “Gentlemen, make it happen. Admiral, I want you to begin procuring the equipment and tools you need. Now, onto the strategy. How are we going to defeat the Russians and ensure the Chinese do not annex any additional countries?”
Admiral Meyers jumped into answering this question, probably before he should have (McMillan really should have been the one to lead off since he was the National Security Advisor). “Sir, I believe the NSA and I should sit down with some of the other generals and military planners to come up with a strategy on how to do that now that you have given us the authorization to increase our military buildup. With these additional resources, we will need some time to collectively develop a winning strategy. Can I propose that we meet again in a couple of weeks to go over an initial outline?” he asked, hoping the President would give them some time to iron things out.
Gates overlooked the breach of etiquette, and replied, “Of course, Admiral. Let’s plan to reconvene in two weeks to go over your plans. In the meantime, we will move forward with the draft and the other orders we talked about today,” replied the President, satisfied with how the meeting had just gone. With that, he got up and signaled that it was time to end the meeting.
Gates did have other pressing matters to attend to. They had been discussing this matter for nearly two hours, and had gone well over their scheduled time. He rushed off down the hall; he was going to be speaking with a trade delegation from Brazil in another hour and he still needed to prep for that meeting and grab some lunch.
As the meeting ended, McMillan and Admiral Meyer left the Oval and headed towards Meyer’s new White House office with the SecDef following. In a rare moment of transparency, McMillan turned to Admiral Meyer and told him, “I’m envious of you. As a retired General, I wish I could do what you are about to do with the military and direct a real build up-not a ragtag group to fight off some terrorists, but a real standing army.” The men continued to walk down the hall in silence as they thought about what to do next.