He held up his hand to stop any questions. “Before you ask, the NSA only just broke the encryption code on those messages, which is why we are meeting now and not two days ago.” The veins on his hands seemed even more visible as he finished this last sentence; he was clearly personally upset that they were only now getting this critical piece of information.
Bennet paused for a second, surveying the looks of the faces around him; some were surprised, others excited, and a few were unable to hide an expression of dread. No one wanted a fight with the North Koreans. It was believed that they had over 10,000 artillery pieces aimed at Seoul that could flatten the capital, not to mention their ballistic missiles and ICBMs, all nuclear capable.
Seeing their looks, he got right to the point. “No one wants this war to happen, least of all me. The war in Europe is still going on, and frankly, it’s a catastrophe. We cannot afford a war in Korea right now. The Chinese know that, the North Koreans know that, and more importantly, the Russians know that. However, unlike Europe, the Republic of Korea (ROK) has a substantial military force. Japan has also agreed to support the US and ROK forces, and so has Australia and New Zealand. We have plans in place to deal with the DPRK, and we are going to move forward with them,” General Bennet said to his military commanders, eyeing each of them with a gaze that seemed to see right through them.
Bennet took another sip of coffee before he went on. “Because hostilities are imminent, the President has authorized the Secretary of Defense to initiate Operation Hammer. We are not going to sit here and wait for the North to obliterate Seoul, just so we can feel justified in striking back. During the past two days, the Air Force has moved the remaining B-1s from the US to Japan, and we’ve relocated our B-2s from Europe to Japan to launch a pre-emptive attack. In twelve hours, the B-2s are going to attempt to decapitate the government. We’ve identified where the ‘Supreme Leader’ is meeting with his generals, and we are going to try and take them out with a single strike. I’m going to turn this part of the briefing over to the Air Force, so they can go over the specific strike packages.” With that, General Bennett turned to his Air Force counterpart, Lieutenant General Alison Forrester, and signaled for her to begin.
The officers in the room all hoped like crazy that the Air Force was able to take the North Korean leadership out quickly. Then they might get lucky and end the conflict before it turned into a nasty ground war.
One of the aides got a PowerPoint presentation pulled up so General Forrester could have the maps up as she began to go over the targets. “As General Bennett said, we are going to launch a decapitation strike against the civilian and military leadership of the government. The B-2s will be carrying out precision strikes against the entire command and control groups of the DPRK throughout the entire country. They will also hit the known and suspected ballistic missile silos, along with any sites associated with their nuclear weapons program.”
She switched the PowerPoint slide before continuing. “The B-52s are going to launch a series of ground attack, standoff cruise missiles. These missiles will be targeted at the North’s air defense systems, mostly near the de-militarized zone and their airbases. They will specifically target the enemies radar and communications systems. We will also have a series of EA-18G Growler aircraft from the Navy, providing us with electronic warfare and countermeasures for the next series of strikes. As the cruise missiles are hitting their targets, the B-1s will go after the North’s artillery positions aimed at Seoul. They will hit the enemy artillery positions with 2,000 lbs. bombs intermixed with napalm and cluster bombs… and yes, I said napalm. At the outset of the war in Russia, the President authorized the production and use of this weapon from the past. Following the B-1 strikes, the B-52s will then continue forward to the frontlines and will conduct a series of arc light missions or carpet bombing runs against the North’s troop formations.”
One of the naval officers asked, “What if the North launches their ballistic missiles at the US, Japan, or the South? What is our response going to be?”
Everyone in the room suddenly sat up a little straighter, wanting to know the response. It was the one question everyone was afraid to ask but still wanted answered. This was one of the big concerns of a war with North Korea. A normal, sane nation state would not willingly destroy its people, even in the face of defeat. North Korea, however, was not a normal sane state actor.
The Air Force officer paused for a second, as if she knew this question might come but had hoped they would not need to discuss it. “The President has authorized the release of nuclear weapons to the Secretary of Defense and General Bennet should the North use a nuclear weapon against US or allied forces. For this purpose, a single B-2 will be held in a holding pattern at an undisclosed location armed with nuclear bombs. The President stressed that the use of nuclear weapons would only be released if a nuclear detonation occurs from a DPRK missile.”
“Although the North Koreans have tested ICBMs that they claim would effectively reach all of the continental U.S., our intelligence shows that they have not completed the process of miniaturizing the nuclear warheads capable of reaching the United States. The main concern right now is Guam, Hawaii, Alaska, Japan, and South Korea.”
She paused for a second, then continued, “We are confident the current ballistic missile defense systems we have in place will sufficiently protect our forces. Everyone should be focused on this war staying conventional. Should that situation change, everyone will be notified immediately.”
Several people in the room exchanged some nervous glances, but they were glad this apocalyptic scenario had at least been thought through.
The next couple of slides showed specific targets the ground attack aircraft and fighter bombers would support next.
General Cutter thought to himself, “The whole first strike is a risky proposition. We could get lucky and pulverize the North’s ability to hit Seoul, or we could end up destroying most of the city.”
An Army general was the next to present his information. “To help us beef up the defense of the city, we’ve moved dozens of Counter Rocket, Artillery, and Mortar systems (C-RAM) to intercept the flight paths the enemy’s artillery and missiles would most likely travel to hit Seoul,” he began. “We know they will most likely not get all the enemy artillery positions or missile launchers in our initial strike, but by placing defensive systems along the flight paths incoming rounds would have to take, with any luck we should be able to intercept a large percentage of the enemy’s incoming fire. The C-RAM worked exceptionally well at intercepting incoming rockets and mortar rounds in Iraq, Afghanistan, and in Israel, so they are going to be heavily employed in the protection of Seoul.”
The various generals and aides talked about the most likely scenarios and outcomes each action would have and how they would counter the North’s response. At some point there was an uncomfortable moment as they realized that they were not entirely sure who would be in charge if the decapitation strike worked. One general even asked if they should try to contact the new potential leader to pursue a peace deal before the U.S. launched the ground assault. No consensus was ever reached on this issue though, and they finally decided to put a pin in it and move on.