WASHINGTON, D.C.
“Madam President,” started the current head of the Department of Homeland Security, Jonathan Miller. “We have deployed all regional assets to New York. We have food, clothing, communications, trucks, potable water, and the ability to make more. We have to be able to move waste of all kinds away from the city and we are using portable burning units to—”
“Please stop, Mr. Miller,” Vaccaro interrupted. “You need to understand my intent. I want all of FEMA’s assets deployed to New York City now. I understand it’s a logistical nightmare, but this government has two things to do today: protect the nation from further attacks, and rebuild lower Manhattan. You have the full authority of this office to carry out that intent, thank you.” And she hung up the phone while John Wright, sitting across from her in the Oval Office, pointed at his watch.
Vaccaro nodded absently, deciding she would never get used to how many people, from members of her committees, cabinet, and staff, to the press and the public, knew exactly what the president of the United States should say. And if she did not say the exact words that all wanted, then they all would jump, leak, cajole, and comment on what she did and did not say. Or what it did and did not mean.
What she was not going to do was allow this bloated and out-of-control system she had inherited ruin the very thing she took an oath to protect. She knew one thing all the way down to her bones: the time for talking was done. She would continue to act, and ask permission later. Right now, as her chief of staff had just pointed out, her action was to update the country and the world as to what had happened in the past twenty-four hours.
Vaccaro stood and followed Wright to the lawn just outside the Oval Office, where a podium had already been set up. She had decided that the speech she had to give would be short and to the point. She had to spell out directly what had happened and what the country was doing and would continue to do, and that they, as a nation, would make it through this. She had to continue to lead, not hide or listen to advisors about legacy, politics, or any other distraction. It was not ego; it was necessary and the job, nothing more and certainly nothing less. Two nuclear devices had been exploded, one in New York City. The time for political consideration was long gone, hopefully forever, though that was not likely. The time for leadership was at hand, and the president of the United States prayed she was up to the task.
“Good afternoon,” she began, facing a crowd of reporters. “The reason I did not start this speech with the familiar phrase ‘My fellow Americans’ is that although this speech is for the American people, I also wanted the world to know what has happened and what we are doing and will continue to do about it. Seven days ago a three-kiloton atomic bomb was detonated outside the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Four days later a second atomic bomb was set off in Lower Manhattan. The death and injured tolls are still coming in, but hundreds of thousands of innocent people were killed and wounded. The loss of life and limb is heartbreaking. We have also suffered massive industrial and commercial damage. This assault on the United States of America is not going unpunished. I have directed—and it is being carried out as we speak—a retaliatory bombing raid on the infrastructure of Pakistan. The Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence, or ISI, knowingly participated in two nuclear attacks, here in New York City and at Bagram Air Base. We are destroying their communications, electric grids, power centers, intelligence centers, and any capability for them to attack us or anyone else for a very long time. We are doing this because it is the right thing; it is the only thing—the righteous thing. In addition, I have signed what I will call the Recovery Act, empowering various agencies with executive powers to minimize our exposure to further acts of terror, as well as ordering all law enforcement—local, state, and federal—to employ any means possible, including deadly force, to maintain the peace. While I will do everything in my power to minimize the damage to our nation’s supply chain, I also want everyone to be perfectly clear: riots and looting will not be tolerated on my watch.
“I want all to know that we did not ask for this attack. Nothing we did caused this attack … but we are responsible for what comes next. May God bless the United States of America and those who support us … and may God damn those who would do us harm.”