UK/USA Emergency Call

[Jamie]

UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND
Security Classification: TOP SECRET

Aware that the situation with Canada is probably a very high priority of many in the upper government of the United States, Defence Secretary Jason Green would instigate a call anyway with a memo sent ahead to request an immediate call to discuss the same topic; with whoever was available and with the authority to discuss military movements. Confined to his private quarters, he hoped someone could pick up. Odinson

 

[Odinson]

Private​

President Gore, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of Defense were all in the Oval Office with the Canadian Charge d'affairs (the head of the Canadian Embassy in Washington). The President had just picked up the phone and was speaking with the King of Canada, whom had been MIA since the initial attack in Ottawa. It was probably certain that the King would be informing President Gore that Canada was going to war with France. The Deputy Secretary of Defense was busy at the Pentagon and the Deputy Secretary of State was busy at the Executive Office Building. Vice President Benjamin Sinclair had just arrived to the White House from the Capitol. About twenty minutes ago he had received a request from the President to come to the White House as soon as possible. The President's Chief of Staff, Duncan, decided to forward to the call from Jason Green to the Vice President, who was just setting some of his things down at his desk. Duncan had maybe thirty seconds to tell the Vice President about the incoming call before it came through.

Sinclair sat behind his desk and picked up the secure landline for his office. "This is the Vice President," Sinclair said in his stoic New England voice.

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

Jason sighed in relief at the response to the phone call, ensuring it was encrypted before speaking "Vice President" he greeted, introducing himself "Jason Green, UK Defence Secretary. Thank you for taking my call so quickly, I appreciate you're probably quite busy so I won't waste your time. I've just left the cabinet office regarding the situation with Canada and France. I'm eager to firstly, hear your thoughts on the recent news and to give you a run down of our governments intent.

We are currently looking to move our Carrier Strike Group away from your own and Polands to deploy it to our oversea territories in the Caribbean. This would be done purely to give the locals a sense of security and reassurance. Please let me know your thoughts on this or if you feel like our carrier can offer better support elsewhere? The declaration from Canada was unexpected and highlighted a sense of unpredictability. It's got a lot of backs up in the British Government so we're putting some policies in place.

I appreciate the US is probably in a tough spot regarding it too, we currently have a squadron of fighters and support aircraft at Edwards AFB following tension with Thailand. We'd like to continue to offer these and are happy to place them anywhere you deem fit operationally. We can also offer any other assets to support you, if there is anything you need, I'll make sure you get it.

We're looking to commence an operation in the English Channel and slightly beyond which would consist of the air force and navy carrying out patrols, the common trend is it's all for our own reassurance. We have no relations with Canada, nor France, but we have to recognize France as a neighbor and this impacts us too. The government have already accepted that if an attack on mainland France was to occur, we would intervene as far as Europe is concerned." Odinson

 

[Odinson]

Private​

"Thank you for calling, Secretary Green... I just arrived to the White House from the Capitol Building. The Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of State would have taken this call, but they are both in the Oval Office with the President right now. President Gore is on the phone with the King of Canada... I spoke with the President earlier today and I was also at a National Security Council meeting this morning, I can answer any of your questions and concerns.

"Firstly, in respect to the Treaty of Washington, I need to inform you why I was summoned to the White House. The United States Coast Guard operates patrols in the North Atlantic as well as the Carribean. One of our cutters detected a medium-sized Canadian fleet sailing towards the Carribean. This information was relayed to the Pentagon, which was then relayed here to the White House. As of now, we do not know the intent of these Canadian vessels in the Carribean. Secondly, on behalf of the President, I want to make it fundamentally clear that the United States would not tolerate for an instant any kind of an attack or incursion on British territory. We have no reason to believe Canada has any ill-will towards Britain, but I wanted to remind you of the mutual alliance between Britain and the United States, and that we have unwavering support for that.

"If you do deploy your carrier to the Carribean, I want to underscore that there may be some elevated risk since Canadian warships and - potentially soon - French warships may be operating in the area. The United States Coast Guard has armed cutters, but at the NSC meeting this morning, the President ordered the Secretary of Defense to plan an American Naval operation in the Carribean as well. Wherever you send your carrier, the United States will support its deployment and we will share any relevant intelligence. While the decision is for your Prime Minister to make, I would recommend placing the carrier somewhere north of the British Virgin Islands. This would be a central location, in respect to most of your overseas territories in the Carribean, but it would most likely also be out of the way of Canadian deployments and any possible French response. I hope that the Ministry of Defense informs the Pentagon of the location that you ultimately decide to send your carrier, though.

"Next, I want to say that I appreciate your support and your offer for assistance. Our carriers on the East and West Coast will be sufficient to monitor the situation. I will just remind you that we currently have a carrier strike group, a destroyer squadron, and two battleships in the Mediterranean around Italy. I don't know the exact details, but the President has ordered the return of some of these units to the Western Hemisphere. In regard to the fighters you have stationed at Edwards...." the Vice President said, thinking for a moment. "This morning at the NSC meeting, the Secretary of Defense recommended to the President that we begin an air-based patrol mission of the Eastern Seaboard, and the Carribean. The point of this patrol would be to have E-3 Sentrys monitoring deep into international waters to search for incoming warships from Europe, or Canada, that are heading towards North America or the Carribean.

"If your government will support it, we could conduct this operation together. We currently have a carrier off the southern coast of Newfoundland, which would deploy a Hawkeye for radar detection in that area. We would deploy an E-3 Sentry from New England to operate in the Atlantic. Then, if your government would allow it, we would deploy two E-3D Sentrys and a handful of fighters to Bermuda. From there, they would operate one Sentry at a time and maintain radar coverage there. Finally, we would deploy two more Sentrys from Puerto Rico, and you would base your two Sentrys from Puerto Rico as well. I will have a map securely sent over to you in a few minutes here for your review," the Vice President said.

"I know that was a lot..." he said, "but I need to add one more thing. We do not have all of the information about who was behind the attack in Ottawa, but the Canadians seem to be saying that it was terrorists who were directly funded, and armed, by France. The United States government will take Canada at its word for now, but we will conduct an investigation into Canadian evidence for these claims. For now, we will not interfere in any Canadian operations in the Western Hemisphere in retaliation against France, provided that they do not commit any atrocities. Also, I know that President Gore is going to make it clear to the King that while we fully support Canada during these troubling times, a Canadian incursion or invasion of mainland France would not be something that we could support. I fully understand your government's position that if Canada were to attack mainland France, the United Kingdom would get involved as that would be entering European affairs," the Vice President said.

"Is there anything that we can do for you in Europe?" Sinclair asked.

The aforementioned map was securely sent from the Vice President's Office to Secretary Green's.

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

"It's not a problem, I'm expecting you all to be extremely busy right now." Jason responded, understanding the political pressures taking place world-wide since the declaration was made public. "Thank you for your re-affirming your commitment to the Treaty of Washington and we're also in agreement, we don't expect to be on the receiving end of any aggression from Canada but it's something we're been cautious of. Especially given the lack of intelligence we had on this matter to begin with. I've already spoken to my Prime Minister and I have the floor, shall we call it, for deciding the position for the British military operations in the region. North of the Virgin Islands does seem ideal, the strike group isn't something we want to have to use but as long as it's capable of responding in a worse case scenario, then we're satisfied; and of course, you'll be informed of any further developments."

Jason fell silent, pausing as he opened the map sent across and assessed the proposal; nodding confidently in the confines of his office "I can authorise the re-assignment of our aircraft at Edwards AFB to Pureto Rico. Ideally if we're to station our two E-3 Sentry's there, we'd also deploy our Typhoons and tanker aircraft if you're happy with that? I can arrange to have these directed to Pureto Rico within the next few hours. As for Canada... we'd be interested to see this evidence they claim. It's an enormously drastic move to make and seems to be all triggered by strong emotions rather than a political stance; and at a pretty big cost too. Evidence or not, there are better ways to handle the situation rather than resorting to violence but we'll see what transpires. I think the biggest indicator to any malicious intention will be if Canada intends to take control of any French territory for itself. Time will tell. My focus is the defence element.

I'm not sure they'll be much you can assist with in Europe, not yet anyway. We'll be conducting extra armed patrols but until we see what happens over the next few days, it's hard to gauge. If there's any attempts to bring the war into Europe itself, we may be looking to get assistance from your units based in the UK, though. Odinson

 

[Odinson]

Private​

"I will run the deployment of your forces, including your fighters and refueling aircraft, to Puerto Rico past the Secretary of Defense. However, the President already approved this scenario this morning if your government agreed to it, so I don't see why it would be rejected. If you do not hear from me in the next thirty minutes, take that as a 'go' for the deployment.

"In regard to this Canadian retaliation... The attack on Washington in 1997 was, undoubtedly, the biggest tragedy in American history. It has many parallels, at least on the surface, to what has just happened in Ottawa. I can tell you that had we any evidence that a foreign power had been behind the attack on Washington, there is an exceptionally strong chance that we would have deployed our strategic arsenal into combat," Sinclair said, implying that the United States would have used weapons of mass destruction.

"I bring that up because myself, and the President, have been through what the Canadians are going through now. Our ability, at that time, to make non-emotional and fully rational decisions was greatly diminished, as I am sure it is for the Canadians at this moment. While I do not like it, a retaliation of some sort from Canada, I think, had to be expected. Starting from this point forward, we are going to do everything we can to help the Canadian government get back on its feet, investigate what exactly occurred, and do everything we can to stop this conflict from escalating. I can give you my word that we will do everything possible to stop any kind of conflict from coming to Europe, though I think that is largely beyond the capabilities of the Canadian armed forces anyway," he said.

"Rest assured, if you need assistance in Europe, the American Air Force in Britain will be able to help, and we can make further deployments on a moment's notice," the Vice President said.

Jamie

 

[Jamie]

"That's perfect, thank you. I'll give our forces the green light given the time it'd take them to prepare anyway and get our carrier group heading towards the Virgin Islands; then it'll be a waiting game to see what transpires." Jason paused "Our main concern is the lack of public evidence; which I'd argue is significantly more important given the global ramifications a war has. The response from the French Government seems to suggest they're very much open to cooperating, and denying any involvement. I think the best course of action is a mediator without any involvement with Canada or France; and one that's not directly impacted by the events. But, that's just my opinion. I'm sure they'll be lots of conversations to come.

Thank you very much again for your reassurances and as always, continued support. As I said to begin with, we'll offer you anything we are able given the distressing situation you're in. If there's anything else, please do let me know. If there's nothing more, I'll leave you to the next phone call that awaits." Jason chuckled, offering his farewell unless his American counterpart had more to discuss. Odinson

 

[Odinson]

Private​

"Thank you, Minister. Do not hesitate to reach out again, please give the Prime Minister my best," Sinclair said. If there was nothing else to add, Sinclair would give his farewells and end the phone call. He would immediately take notes of the entire conversation with his own hand so that he could report all of it to the President and Secretary of Defense. The Pentagon immediately approved the deployment of British assets to Puerto Rico - secure confirmation of this was sent from the Pentagon to the Ministry of Defense.

Jamie