United States | Phone Call to Sweden

[Odinson]

Secret​

At approximately 4:00 A.M. in Washington D.C., Benjamin Sinclair was sitting in his private study in the White House Residence. He was wearing a faded, dark blue sweatshirt that had the gold logo of the United States Lighthouse Service on it. He quietly puffed on his pipe and then picked up the secure line on his desk which connected him to the White House operator, who was also on a secure line.

"Mister President, this is the White House operator. How may I direct your call, sir?" she asked.
"Connect me to the State Department, please."
"Right away, Mister President."

The phone rang a few times, and a senior State Department official who was on duty at the time answered the phone. He didn't know who it was, only that it was a senior government official calling.

"State Department, Secretary of State's Office. How can I direct your call?" the man from the State Department said.
"Can you connect me to the Prime Minister of Sweden?" Sinclair asked.
"To whom am I speaking?" the man asked.
"This is the President. Can you connect me to the Prime Minister of Sweden?"
"The President of what?"
"Son, this is President Sinclair. Now connect me to the God-damned Prime Minister of Sweden - I'm not going to ask again."

Within a few minutes, President Sinclair's call on a secure line was wired over to the office of the Prime Minister of Sweden. While the call would normally come directly from the White House to Stockholm, where a representative from the White House would ask a representative from the Prime Minister's Office if the President could be connected, this time a tired and somewhat confused representative from the State Department performed that task. If the Prime Minister was available to talk, and if he was on a secure line, the President's phone line would be connected to him. It would have been approximately 10:00 A.M. in Stockholm.

When he heard the click of the line being connected, he said, "Hello? This is President Sinclair."

Connor

 

[Connor]

Government of Sweden
Reinfeldt Administration​

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The phone call would be answered by the switchboard in the Executive Office of the Prime Minister of Sweden - as presumably this is the access point the US State Department would have used in order to reach him. Answering the phone would be the Assistant to the Prime Minister, Malin Andersson, a veteran of his trade who upon hearing the phone ring would press it to his ear and utter a standard response “Good Morning, Executive Office of the Prime-…” only to be interrupted by President Sinclair and his own introduction”.

“Oh, Mr President, my apologies… good morning! One moment please while I transfer you to the Prime Minister”. Malin would quickly mute the phone and rather than transferring it electronically would push himself through the large wooden double doors separating him from the Prime Minister and repeat “Mr Prime Minister, President Sinclair of the United States on the phone for you…” to which and without any hesitation the Prime Minister would wave his hand energetically “Put him through, put him through!” Quickly picking his own phone up and awaiting the port. As soon as the phone clicks, engaging the Nation Security Office encryption and monitoring system, the Prime Minister and the President would be connected.

“Mr President, what a surprise to hear from you, how are you? I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced!”

Odinson

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TOP SECRET
Crown Copyright © Kingdom of Sweden
All information is encrypted and subject to the Swedish Document Classification and Security Act 1995​

 

[Odinson]

Secret​

“Prime Minister Reinfeldt, thank you for taking my call. I am doing well. It is about…” Sinclair checked his pocket watch that was sitting on his desk, “4:00 in the morning here, so I’m thinking that makes it 10:00 in the morning there? I hope that this isn’t an inconvenient time to talk. I thought this could be a good time to get the two of us acquainted,” he said, and then took a few more silent puffs from his pipe as he sat back in his comfortable leather chair.

Sinclair preferred the President’s private study in the Residence of the White House to the Oval Office. It was never seen by the public, people weren’t constantly moving in and out of it, and it felt more like an at-home study instead of a work office. The room was dark except for the lamp on his desk which was partially illuminating the desk itself. The rotary landline phone he was speaking on was old like him. He only slept about five hours and he hadn’t been able to fall back asleep.

Connor

 

[Connor]

"Mr President I admire your commitment. I'm not entirely confident I could structure a sentence at that hour! You must be exhausted" Reinfeldt chuckles to himself, leaning back in his brown leather chair and swinging his legs up onto the corner of his desk, intentionally leaving the soles of his shoes hanging from the side as to avoid the transference of any debris onto the tabletop "Yes, it's around ten o'clock here, raring to go, full of coffee and much to cover as we kick back into overdrive on the international stage - from which I am sure there is much we need to catch up on... but Mr President... excuse but some call me old-fashioned, firstly let me congratulate you on your appointment albeit belated. Sweden and the United States have always had a unique relationship, one thus far untested but nonetheless known internationally."

Odinson

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TOP SECRET
Crown Copyright © Kingdom of Sweden
All information is encrypted and subject to the Swedish Document Classification and Security Act 1995​

 

[Odinson]

Secret​

"To be honest, I couldn't sleep... It's one of those nights," he said. In truth, he had a nightmare about the war in Korea that was so vivid that he didn't want to go back to sleep, and he probably wouldn't be able to even if he tried - of course, he would never admit that to anyone.

"Thank you for your kind words, Prime Minister. As far as I am concerned, the relationship between the United States and Sweden is rock solid. While I had the chance, I wanted to tell you about the United States's new policy concerning Strategic Accountability. While I personally, and as President, strongly disagree with the ownership or use or biological weapons or radiological weapons, the goal of this policy is not to disarm countries of WMDs or their strategic weapons, like ICBMs. The goal of this policy is to stop the spread of these weapons to other countries. The more governments that have strategic weapons and WMDs, the more likely they are to be used - the math is simple on that. Our current Strategic Accountability policy holds the seller of strategic weapons accountable if a country they sell the weapons to uses them against the United States or her allies, including Sweden. This policy is a stopgap measure until an international agreement on strategic weapons and WMDs can be reached.

"This year, I plan for the United States to coordinate an international summit on stopping the proliferation of strategic weapons and WMDs. The goal of this summit would be to stop the spread and sale of strategic weapons and WMDs to countries who do not currently operate them. The United States would really appreciate it if the Kingdom of Sweden would send a representative to this summit, presuming that this is an initiative that you and your government would support. Is this something that we can work on, together, Prime Minister?"

Connor