Levels of Power: The Diplomat - Softcover

Gilmore, Mike

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1491866616 ISBN 13: 9781491866610

Publisher: AuthorHouse, 2014

Synopsis

Levels of Power: The Diplomat The demand for oil and natural gas is never ending, and the South China Sea possesses the largest underwater stockpile in Southeast Asia. Nearly every country in the ASEAN organization (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) cross-claims portions of the islands and riffs dotted throughout the sea. However, all must beware of their largest neighbor, China, who also claims nearly all of the same body of water for its own use. When war breaks out between China and Vietnam, the United States and India prepare to honor their mutual defense treaties with Vietnam and to keep the shipping lanes open to their merchant fleets. United States Senator Randy Fisher is in Southeast Asia to attend the ASEAN annual conference and is the only American in the theater who can prevent a full-scale war. His strained relationship with the current American president is nearing its own breaking point over their domestic policy differences. With little support from the White House, he risks his career and perhaps his life to prevent naval forces with nuclear weapons from confronting each other in one of the busiest bodies of water across the globe. From the Philippines to Brunei, Vietnam, and into the heart of the Chinese Communist government, the American senator will travel to unravel the well-made plans of the architects for China's military expansion into the South China Sea.

About this title

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

LEVELS of POWER

THE DIPLOMAT

By Mike Gilmore

AuthorHouse LLC

Copyright © 2014 Mike Gilmore
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4918-6661-0

CHAPTER 1

Washington DC Wednesday—December 17, 2014 5:15PM—EST

The federal government was only two days away from shutting down for the 2014 calendar year. Actually, the government never completely shuts down. No agency involved with national security ever takes a day off. The armed forces never take a day off. Small interior renovations, planned and completed, inside federal buildings occurred during the two weeks that Congress was not in session. Newly elected members of Congress were arriving to get their offices set up even as outgoing members were packing up their personal effects and cleaning out their offices. Of course, the federal employees working at the government agencies still worked their weekly nine to five job.

In the months leading to the mid-term elections, the newspapers and national broadcast news networks filled their pages and airwaves with pre-election coverage but the elections had been rather dull as was common for a mid-term election. There had been less than a dozen changes in the make-up of both the House and Senate office holders. Certainly not enough to change which political party controlled the legislative branch of the United States Government.

The lull in political news ended immediately after the elections on November 4. The press had a new and very big story to discuss with the American people until the new congress returned in January. On November 5, Jerrod Wyman, Vice President of the United States, tendered his resignation to Republican President Harold Miller effective December 31, 2014.

The newspapers changed their normal font for their front pages to large bold letters as they informed the country. The talking heads filled the airwaves with their beliefs about the reasons behind the Vice President's decision to resign. The most favored rumor among the political commentators was the prediction that Jerrod Wyman would run against his own party's incumbent in the 2016 Presidential elections. There had been plenty of stories leaking from the Executive branch regarding President Harold Miller and his Vice President not only disagreeing on many policy decisions, but their relationship had deteriorated to only nodding at each other when they met in the hallways of the White House West Wing.

Washington insiders predicted Jerrod Wyman would go back to his home state of Texas where he had been a popular governor for two terms to prepare his campaign for the 2016 elections. With a net worth of nearly $4 billion dollars from the sale of his oil and gas refinery business years before, money for a national campaign would not be a problem.

Following the news surrounding Wyman's resignation, the most important piece of information everybody wanted to know was whom President Miller would select as his new Vice President. It would be logical to assume that there would be many willing applicants for the prestigious and certainly important position, but there again, the talk circling around Capitol Hill from the more extremist liberals was that maybe the list of potential candidates was a little on the short side.

President Harold Miller was currently experiencing the lowest favorability ratings of his political career. Elected President in November of 2012, Miller had been the senior senator from the state of New York. He had won the election by a narrow majority over the incumbent Democrat. Early in his Presidency, his polls were in the mid-fifties, but 2013 had started as a rough first year for the new President. His polling numbers were below 50 percent and little had happened to turn the favorability rating back to their previous higher numbers.

The relationship between the Miller White House and the legislative branch of the government neared a breaking point in 2014. Two major pieces of legislation authored by Senators Tom Evans of California and Randy Fisher of South Carolina passed through the Congress with over a two-thirds majority vote.

The President had initially opposed the first bill, the Sierra Vista Border Security Plan. Congressional approval of the bill along with the President's signature would authorize the U. S. Customs and Border Protection Agency to increase the number of border guards by five thousands additional agents as well as by two hundred fifty more customs officers. Additional electronic surveillance equipment, including four new drones to improve border coverage, was also in the package.

The President kept telling the American public the country's current security procedures were adequate, but the killing of five border agents during a bold daylight incursion of the Juarez Drug Cartel forced the President to reverse his earlier position on the legislation. The bill passed by a large margin in both houses of Congress.

The second bill, The Fisher / Evans Pathway to Citizenship, was another bitter pill for the President to swallow. He had fought it all the way to Capitol Hill, claiming the $10,000 dollar fee for each applicant was allowing illegal immigrants to buy their way into citizenship. He even went so far as to accuse Senators Evans and Fisher of being willing to take a "bribe" by allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens of the United States and in return for their support for the Democratic Party.

The bill might not have received its narrow two-thirds majority for passage had not an amazing incident happened in a small city in Ohio called Coshocton. Captured on video, four illegal Mexicans, working on a near-by construction site participated in the rescue of over 120 students and faculty members from a massive fire in a junior high school building with no resulting loss of life. The state governor, the two U.S. Senators from Ohio, and the member of Congress representing the district where the school was located all successfully campaigned for the illegal Mexicans to receive their green card, which would allow them to remain legally within the country. The heroic efforts of the four Mexican construction workers helped convince the country and Congress to approve the new citizenship bill against the wishes of the President.

The President's first year in office came under fire due to several high-profile political scandals.

Immediately after termination by the President for stealing money from the department's special research funds, his energy secretary committed suicide in his own cabinet office. The first incident had barely been off the front pages and airways of the broadcast media when his Education Secretary, along with his pregnant private secretary, was involved in a minor traffic accident in downtown Washington DC. Early into the investigation of the accident, the Secretary revealed that he was the father of the baby resulting in his forced resignation. Scandals in 2013 followed by two major legislative losses for the President in 2014 capped the end of his second year in office.

Political scandals, followed by major legislative losses by a Congress asserting its authority over the President, made it appear to the American public the office of the President was not as powerful as it once had been. Combined, these events were keeping qualified people from having their name added to the President's short list for his selection of VP candidates. Who wanted to hook his or her political future to a President facing a very tough reelection? Maybe even against his former Vice President.

Randal Edward Fisher, Democratic U.S. Senator from South Carolina, was 40 years old and recently celebrated his election for a new six-year term. He was in his office in the Russell Senate Office Building, using a few quiet hours to catch up on some reading. The Senate had adjourned for the day, and he was free until 8:15 tonight when he had to attend yet another Christmas party.

The office was empty, his staffers having left for the day. Even his workaholic chief of staff Tim Smith had needed to leave right at 5:00. Randy was reviewing a stack of newspapers and their bold headlines about new possible candidates for the VP spot. Some were also running stories about possible Presidential candidates for the 2016 election. Jerrod Wyman's name was on the short list as a possible Republican contender along with that of Randy's friend and mentor, Democratic Senator Tom Evans. These two senior members of their respective political parties top the list as major rivals to the President for the job. Eight other politicians for the Democratic nomination followed Tom Evans' name. Randy was glad that he would not be faced with a Presidential campaign. Running for his own first election had been enough of a learning experience for him.

Randy looked at the calendar printed on his desk blotter and ran the figures in his head. Seven hundred ninety-one ... two years and one month since he walked into Loading Dock Six at the grandstand within the state fairgrounds in Columbia, SC, and found himself faced with a terrorist setting up a nuclear device rigged to explode during the presidential debate between incumbent Jonathon Blakely and then-Senator Harold Miller.

Randy had been the southeastern regional sales manager for a large manufacturer of industrial electrical control equipment, and had been on a typical sales call. Before he could think of any type of response, the customer he was with had been fatally shot, and Randy had taken a bullet to his right shoulder.

Despite the bullet wound, Randy had been very lucky that fateful day. The terrorist assumed Randy was dead, and turned his back on both men. Randy was able to get up and attack the terrorist and disarmed him of the handgun. The terrorist then pulled a knife from a leather sheath and came at Randy again. During their fight, Randy had tripped the terrorist using a leg trip or takedown technique learned from his army service as a military MP, and the terrorist fell and impaled himself on his own knife.

Barely conscious, Randy had been able to telephone authorities to warn them of the bomb and prevent a terrible nuclear incident affecting the entire country. Two months later, after his recuperation, South Carolina Governor, Jessica Brooks, appointed Randy to complete the final two years of a six-year elected term of retiring U.S. Senator Robert Moore.

With the latest elections behind, he had won the office on his own merits. He promised the people of the Palmetto State he would work to bring jobs to South Carolina and to help make their lives a little better. The Emerson Electrical plant in Greenville, S.C. had been a new addition to the industrial base and was located in the up-state region. Randy and his staff had a lot to do with the one hundred fifty new jobs. Emerson had two more plants due to open next year in his state.

Randy did not even hire a campaign manager until after the passage of the immigration and border security bills in June of this year. He had about $400,000 set aside from speaking fees he had earned in the previous eighteen months, and had been willing to use about $250,000 from his personal assets provided by royalty income from a patent for an electronic air conditioning control switch his late father had designed and sold to the Trane Company. To his surprise, the Democratic National Committee came through with a check for $250,000 and a commitment for another $500,000 if needed.

Starting in the middle of July with a new campaign manager and a staff of mostly volunteer workers, Randy began a blitz of weekend events throughout his state. As soon as the Senate would recess for the week, he would leave Washington and fly to one of the airports in South Carolina, traveling from one event to another. From mid-July through October, Randy was in his home state every weekend attending events scheduled by his campaign manager.

It was a major help when the Republican Party decided not to run anybody against him, but Randy would not take the voters for granted. He wanted to let them know he still needed their vote even though he was unopposed.

By election night, Randy was able to bring in a huge win without using the extra half million dollars offered by the DNC and without dipping into his personal funds. He and Annie, along with hundreds of campaign volunteers, celebrated at the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel near the South Carolina Convention Center in Columbia.

CHAPTER 2

Washington DC Wednesday—December 17, 2014 6:00PM—EST

Randy Fisher glanced at his Timex watch. The South Carolina junior senator still had another two hours before he needed to leave for tonight's Christmas party. Randy leaned back into his office chair and stretched his six feet, 185-pound frame as he reflected on the holiday season thus far.

Every evening last week he and Annie had attended a foreign embassy Christmas event. The first on Monday of last week had been at the British Embassy. The following nights of the week, he attended holiday events at the German, Canadian, British, and Spanish Embassies, ending at the French Embassy on Saturday. Randy was relieved to be able to stay home on Sunday night. It was typical for a U.S. senator to receive special event invitations, and Randy sat on several high profile committees in the Senate. Armed Services and the Select Committee on Intelligence were important committee assignments and he wanted the invitations to use these events to meet with many of the foreign ambassadors and their senior staffs.

On Monday evening of this week, Randy and Annie had attended the Mexican Embassy's holiday event. Due to the passage of his two pieces of legislation this year, he could not turn this event down. Annie had begged off from last night's holiday event held at the OAS or Organization of American States, building. Randy attended because he would meet with dignitaries from all the member nations. He told Annie it was like attending thirty-five parties in one night.

Annie was begging off from tonight's event as well. She needed to finish a portion of an electrical design for a hospital renovation before they left Washington for their own Christmas break. Annie had been an employee at the Department of Energy when she and Randy first met. After the Raymond Cleveland suicide event and the attempt on her life by Thomas Dean at the DOE, Annie decided to look for work outside the government. She had accepted an electrical engineering and design position with the Global Architectural Firm. GAF was an architectural company specializing in the designs of schools and hospitals for third world countries. With the use of computers and the internet, Annie was able to work at home most of the time. She would have to drive into the Global Architectural DC office one day each week for meetings with other members of the firm to help coordinate the design and accompanying work schedules.

Randy cleared away the newspapers he had been browsing, and picked up the top folder from his "must read" file. There was never an end to the reports or internal papers members of his staff felt were important for him to read. Tim would review the summary page and decide if the paper deserved Randy's attention.

He opened the folder, finding several articles from newspapers or magazines dealing with the political tensions building up in the South China Seas between the PRC, Peoples Republic of China, and the member nations of ASEAN. In 1967, five Southeast Asian countries first established The Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and Indonesia were the original chartered members, with the Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia having all been part of the former ASA or Association of Southeast Asia. Today, in addition to the original chartered members, ASEAN included Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

Randy scanned the papers quickly to see what the focus of the articles was. In a few minutes, it was easy to understand why Tim had placed these in his important file folder. China needed more energy, and the South China Seas was their answer. China had proven oil reserves of only 1.1% of the world total; however, China consumed 10.4% of total world production and 20.1% of all the energy used on the planet.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from LEVELS of POWER by Mike Gilmore. Copyright © 2014 Mike Gilmore. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Edition details

• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1491866616
• ISBN 13: 9781491866610
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 290