AT THE FAA COMMAND CENTER Alex Borkowski forgot his nagging arthritic right hip when he learned of the airborne nuclear bomb approaching Las Vegas. He shut down McCarran airport, then ordered the Los Angeles and Salt Lake City Centers to reroute or ground all flights.
Nellis AFB lookouts reported a huge fireball over the Nevada test site at 1:32 a.m. Nevada time: 4:32 a.m. EST. The Air Force observers were not alone. The American News Network, ANN, started getting reports from the field about a big explosion out west.
The President had already initiated a National Security Council (NSC) meeting. While there was notable confusion, mostly because of the time zone changes, President Graham Steward learned the details of the imminent disaster thirty minutes before it happened. Starting with the Nellis AFB Commander and ending with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, his control and command structure functioned as the system was designed to do. He wanted to assure the NSC no significant loss of life had occurred and that he would rank this incident as Top Secret.
The primary members of the NSC gathered at 5:15 that morning in the Cabinet Room of the White House. Present were the Vice President, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Secretaries of Defense, State and Treasury, plus Margret Madden, National Security Adviser, Edmond Pruitt, the President’s Chief of Staff and Leo Adornetto, Director of National Intelligence.
President Steward waited until everyone settled down. "I know this is an early hour, but I want to brief you on an incident that has happened out in the Nevada desert. A small nuclear bomb was harmlessly detonated in a remote location with no loss of life. It occurred over a restricted area of our Nellis Air Force Base bombing range many miles north of Las Vegas. I wanted you to know this before the media started churning out their usual speculations and predictions of Armageddon." Steward eyed the council members arrayed before him, and noted Leo Adornetto squirming in his chair. "Some of you know a few days ago I appointed a Special Unit Strike Force to investigate a possible infiltration of a terrorist armed with some kind of nuclear weapon out west. I'm not happy with their performance, but at least no collateral damage has occurred.”
"Amen to that," said the Vice President nodding his head. Others around the table uttered similar approvals.
Leo Adornetto, unable to remain quiet, put his hand up and spoke, "Mr. President, there might be a little more to this incident then you’ve been told."
The President ignored the comment. "All of this could have been avoided, if the Strike Force had acted sooner. Unfortunately, I became aware of this terrorist plot too late."
Adornetto tried again. "But Mr. President..."
Steward cut him off. "I'll get to you in a moment, Leo."
The Director of National Intelligence clasped his hands in front of him, and gritted his teeth.
"As I was saying, if we had captured this jihadist only a few hours earlier, none of this would have happened. As you know, we have spent much political capital and billions of dollars to beef up our national defenses. If the word got out about this breach, the public would become alarmed. We would have a lot of questions to answer. Since no real harm has been done, I consider this matter closed. For purposes of national security, I declare this matter Top Secret as defined by law."
Adornetto no longer remained silent. "Mr. President that means no one will know the tremendous success we have accomplished."
"I think you mean tremendous failure, Mr. Adornetto."
"No, sir. I have been involved in this case from the beginning. The intelligence community has worked as a team and saved our country from a catastrophic event far greater than the 9-11 attack."
"That's nonsense. A terrorist has successfully exploded an atomic bomb on American soil. That is hardly an accomplishment I want aired in the public arena."
"That's not supported by the facts, sir."
President Steward's face reddened, his eyes grew hard, "Mr. Adornetto, may I remind you violation of any information classified as top secret carries with it fines and imprisonment. Do you understand me?"
Silence prevailed. Everyone around the table bowed their heads and glanced over at Adornetto. Finally he answered, "Yes, sir. I understand you completely."
"Good. Now if you all will excuse me, I am scheduled to speak to the nation." Everyone stood as the President left the Cabinet Room.