atmosphere, a needle which may only exist for a few thousandths of a second, at best.
“As for our satellites, they’re in the same orbital plane as the weapon, twenty-two thousand three hundred miles up, and either looking down at the surface of the planet, or out into space at other stellar objects, not across the orbital plane. Our defensive ground stations are generally tuned to detect radio-frequency and infrared wavelength energy, not stuff in the ultraviolet or X-ray spectrum.
“The few terrestrial-based, scientific sampling instruments that operate within those frequencies are not set up to image a point-source of energy in a wide-field area of outer space. Even if they were, the odds against someone looking at a particular area of the sky during the fraction of a second when the weapon is firing are enormous.”
Tanner rose and walked across the room, obviously nervous in Vanderbilt’s presence. Vanderbilt was aware of Tanner’s unease, but he did not outwardly show it. The twitch at the corner of his mouth may have been an amused smile trying to form, but if it was, he controlled it well.
“We are taking steps now to correct that, though,” Tanner continued. “We’re setting up long-range Doppler-radar ground stations here at Langley Air Force Base; at Patrick Air Force Base at the Cape; and at several airports and other sites that have the necessary equipment. Falcon Air Force Base in Colorado is working with NOAA to enhance weather satellite imagery of lightning strokes, in the interest of detecting and logging all ionizing radiation emissions in the atmosphere over the U.S.
“The CIA is running the Langley site,” he acknowledged Franklin with a nod, “but the Patrick operation is a joint NASA/military operation. The Air Force’s 45th Space Wing is stationed there. The physics department at the University of Miami will do the actual monitoring.
“Caltech is contracted to do the monitoring at the Space Warfare Center at Falcon Air Force Base, and for NASA at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. We hope to be ready if they fire it again. We won’t have any satellite surveillance across the orbital plane—the beam wouldn’t be visible in space, anyway—but the ground stations should be able to see the beam path through the atmosphere and triangulate the orbital position of the weapon platform.”
“Do you think we should evacuate senior government staff from Washington, just on the off chance that these freaks make good on their promise?” Vanderbilt asked, studying Tanner.
Tanner resumed his chair, and looked Vanderbilt in the eye, a neutral expression on his face. “None of your political advisors think so, sir,” he responded, deftly avoiding giving his own opinion. “They feel that it would only lend credence to the terrorists, and would really piss off the people who were evacuated, especially if nothing happened. It could do a lot of damage to your public image, too.”
Tanner studied his fingernails a moment before continuing. “Tactically, the consensus is that chances are next to none that they have the stored energy to fire again. Of course, the Secret Service insists that you, and the senior White House staff and their families, be evacuated for a few days in early August, just to be on the safe side.”
“Speaking of image, won’t that look a bit strange to the public, not to say cowardly, if we just happen to vacate the White House around that date?” Vanderbilt asked.
“You can minimize it, Mr. President. Your security chief and press secretary can arrange for the Travel Office to schedule some sort of routine business engagements for you and the Vice President, and the rest of the cabinet can find excuses to be elsewhere. If you stagger the dates so that it isn’t obvious, and insist that you are just going about business as usual—attending prearranged events, and making it appear that you give no significance whatever to the terrorist threat—it should
“As for our satellites, they’re in the same orbital plane as the weapon, twenty-two thousand three hundred miles up, and either looking down at the surface of the planet, or out into space at other stellar objects, not across the orbital plane. Our defensive ground stations are generally tuned to detect radio-frequency and infrared wavelength energy, not stuff in the ultraviolet or X-ray spectrum.
“The few terrestrial-based, scientific sampling instruments that operate within those frequencies are not set up to image a point-source of energy in a wide-field area of outer space. Even if they were, the odds against someone looking at a particular area of the sky during the fraction of a second when the weapon is firing are enormous.”
Tanner rose and walked across the room, obviously nervous in Vanderbilt’s presence. Vanderbilt was aware of Tanner’s unease, but he did not outwardly show it. The twitch at the corner of his mouth may have been an amused smile trying to form, but if it was, he controlled it well.
“We are taking steps now to correct that, though,” Tanner continued. “We’re setting up long-range Doppler-radar ground stations here at Langley Air Force Base; at Patrick Air Force Base at the Cape; and at several airports and other sites that have the necessary equipment. Falcon Air Force Base in Colorado is working with NOAA to enhance weather satellite imagery of lightning strokes, in the interest of detecting and logging all ionizing radiation emissions in the atmosphere over the U.S.
“The CIA is running the Langley site,” he acknowledged Franklin with a nod, “but the Patrick operation is a joint NASA/military operation. The Air Force’s 45th Space Wing is stationed there. The physics department at the University of Miami will do the actual monitoring.
“Caltech is contracted to do the monitoring at the Space Warfare Center at Falcon Air Force Base, and for NASA at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. We hope to be ready if they fire it again. We won’t have any satellite surveillance across the orbital plane—the beam wouldn’t be visible in space, anyway—but the ground stations should be able to see the beam path through the atmosphere and triangulate the orbital position of the weapon platform.”
“Do you think we should evacuate senior government staff from Washington, just on the off chance that these freaks make good on their promise?” Vanderbilt asked, studying Tanner.
Tanner resumed his chair, and looked Vanderbilt in the eye, a neutral expression on his face. “None of your political advisors think so, sir,” he responded, deftly avoiding giving his own opinion. “They feel that it would only lend credence to the terrorists, and would really piss off the people who were evacuated, especially if nothing happened. It could do a lot of damage to your public image, too.”
Tanner studied his fingernails a moment before continuing. “Tactically, the consensus is that chances are next to none that they have the stored energy to fire again. Of course, the Secret Service insists that you, and the senior White House staff and their families, be evacuated for a few days in early August, just to be on the safe side.”
“Speaking of image, won’t that look a bit strange to the public, not to say cowardly, if we just happen to vacate the White House around that date?” Vanderbilt asked.
“You can minimize it, Mr. President. Your security chief and press secretary can arrange for the Travel Office to schedule some sort of routine business engagements for you and the Vice President, and the rest of the cabinet can find excuses to be elsewhere. If you stagger the dates so that it isn’t obvious, and insist that you are just going about business as usual—attending prearranged events, and making it appear that you give no significance whatever to the terrorist threat—it should
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