Lethal Trajectories - Michael Conley [107]
“I met with the president earlier today to review the Camp David meeting, and he likened the situation to the converging elements of a perfect storm. His metaphor is appropriate, and I plan to use it to frame the multiple challenges that need to be addressed in their entirety, as one humongous problem.
“Perfect storm describes our situation to the letter. Think of the colliding forces in play: oil and energy shortages, disastrous new climate trajectories, domestic and global economic systems on the brink of collapse, a growing world population with rising expectations facing chronic water shortages and famine, and geopolitical hotspots ready to erupt. The fuse has been lit by the Saudi embargo, and it could easily set off a chain reaction of catastrophic proportions. In this milieu, it’s difficult to address one set of problems without touching the others; everything’s interrelated.”
Clayton paused to refill his coffee cup and give the team a chance to digest what he had just said.
“Our job,” he continued, “is to develop a grand strategy that addresses the entire tangle of interrelated challenges, with the Saudi crisis as its launch point. That’s the easy part. The hard part is that our plan has to be ready for presentation to the American people in less than two weeks.”
Secretary Thompson could no longer control his anxiety. “Mr. Vice President, this will take months of careful planning—and even then it looks impossible. What do we gain by imposing this impossible deadline?”
“In a perfect world, Thurmond, we’d be able to take our time. But we don’t have the time. The fuse is lit, and already its effects are rippling through the world. According to the CIA report you received, we have less than five months to resolve the crisis before the global economy suffers a complete meltdown. We have no choice.”
In an uncharacteristic interruption, Admiral Coxen interjected, “I can see dealing with the Saudi crisis, Mr. Vice President, but why do we have to deal with everything else at the same time?”
“Here’s the deal, Admiral: while our immediate focus will be geared to the Saudi oil crisis, we would be facing serious challenges even without the Saudi crisis. Just as the Saudi crisis is the catalyst for our perfect storm, it can also be the catalyst for uniting our people behind a grand plan to address the multiple crises we face. We can’t address one challenge effectively without addressing the others, and the grand plan I envision ties it all together in a single strategic construct.”
The admiral nodded as the outlines of McCarty’s vision started to take form.
“Politically speaking, America has let energy, climate-change, the economy, deficit spending, and so much more go on for years without resolution. We knew there were problems, but the political will wasn’t there to make the tough choices required to solve them. Denial was far easier. Unfortunately, the problems intensified over time, and it took only one spark—the Saudi crisis—to send everything up in flames. Payment on our neglected accounts is now coming due—all at the same time, I’m afraid.”
Clayton caught a covert, encouraging wink from Jack, as if he’d whispered, You’re on a roll, buddy, keep pushing. Emboldened, Clayton forged on.
“America has always been at its best in a crisis, but first we have to know that a crisis exists. Imagine trying to tell someone one day before Pearl Harbor that within three years America would have fifteen million trained military in uniform; that we would become the arsenal of democracy by transforming our peacetime economy to a wartime footing; and that we would develop an atomic bomb and still have the financial strength after the war to fund the Marshall Plan to reinvigorate Europe. They wouldn’t have believed you, and I can tell you that it wouldn’t have happened incrementally if Pearl Harbor had never been bombed. Another example: the Soviet Union was eating our lunch in the space race until JFK boldly called for putting a man on the moon by the end