A movie/TV series script for
ABLE ARCHER 83
By Kenneth James Prendergast
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8 EXT. PENTAGON – DAY 8 WIDE SHOT OF A MARINE CORPS HELICOPTER landing at the Pentagon
Army Heliport on the northwest side of the Pentagon. Text on screen: “The Pentagon, January 13, 1981” Several men aged 40-60 years in wool coats and suits including a
man in his late-60s emerge from the helicopter and are greeted with handshakes
from an Air Force general and his attaché. Enlisted soldiers posted nearby
salute and stand at attention. Buffeted by the winds from the helicopter’s
rotors, the suits smile and yell imperceptibly but pleasantly at the officer
who offers his congratulations at the oldest man in a suit and guides him toward
a doorway into the Pentagon AS THE CAMERA ZOOMS IN. PRESIDENT-ELECT
RONALD REAGAN “My God
it’s cold out here! (To the Air Force general, walking alongside) CHAIRMAN
JONES, why aren’t you wearing a coat?” CHAIRMAN DAVID
JONES (yelling
over the noise of the helicopter) “I grew up
in the Dakotas, Mister President! This is what we would call a Chinook, sir.” “I thought
Marine One is a Sikorsky?” (he says smiling) CHAIRMAN
JONES “Yes, it
is, MISTER ALLEN (forcing a smile). I was referring to the warm winds that come
down off the Rockies onto the high plains.” PRESIDENT-ELECT
REAGAN “And you’re
very kind, General. But I’m not the President yet -- not until next week.” CHAIRMAN
JONES “My
apologies, sir.” PRESIDENT-ELECT
REAGAN “Oh, that’s
quite alright. I arrived from California only last week and I’m still trying to
get used to it, not to mention this bitter cold.” CHAIRMAN
JONES “It can get
a lot colder around here, and it probably will before this winter is over. Follow
me, sir...” (His attaché opens the Pentagon’s VIP entrance for Reagan and his
transition team’s national security staff). FADE: 9 INT. Pentagon
E-ring, fourth-deck conference room 9 INSIDE THE
PENTAGON, the camera moves like a drone through the halls, to an elevator, and emerges
on the fourth deck of the E-ring, the text briefly displays “Pentagon E-Ring,
Fourth Deck” then enters a conference room with U-shaped table and a projection
screen at one end. REAGAN, GEORGE H. W. BUSH and his national security transition
team greet other officers and aides totaling about a dozen people in the room.
A bulky black leather case sits on the table. CHAIRMAN
JONES “I trust
everyone in this room has Yankee White clearance? (AN ATTACHE STANDING NEARBY
NODS IN THE AFFIRMATIVE) Very well, Mister President-Elect, I present to you
the Joint Chiefs.” (ALL SHAKE HANDS WITH REAGAN) MARINE
CORPS GENERAL ROBERT BARROW “How was
your flight in from Camp David, sir?” PRESIDENT-ELECT
REAGAN “Fine,
thanks to your Marines, GENERAL BARROW. And to the Carters for extending the
courtesy. They were very gracious -- for Democrats.” (RESTRAINED
LAUGHTER ALL AROUND) “I think
most of you know the members of my national security transition team who are
with me today – DICK ALLEN, JIM NANCE, and of course the next VICE PRESIDENT
GEORGE BUSH...” NAVY
ADMIRAL TOM HAYWARD (INTERRUPTING)
“Good to see you back here again, BUD. How’s retirement at 40 treating you?” DEPUTY NSA
NOMINEE JIM “BUD” NANCE “Not quite 40
yet (IN A SOUTHERN DRAWL), Admiral. But a few folks are trying to keep me from retiring.
If it’s not General Haig, it’s Senator Helms. It took the next President of the
United States to reel me back in.” VICE
PRESIDENT-ELECT GEORGE BUSH “And how is
President Haig these days?” (MORE LAUGHTER) PRESIDENT-ELECT
REAGAN “All right,
why don’t we take our seats, gentlemen. (ATTENDEES FIND THEIR SEATS AND SIT) CHAIRMAN
JONES, my transition team appreciates your straightforward answers with regards
to the Soviets. And One of the things I have learned since joining the Committee
on the Present Danger last year was that, while the Soviets pretended to usher
in a new era of peace and friendship, signing the SALT treaties and the
Helsinki accords, the Kissinger era of détente unfortunately proved to be a
distraction. We now see the Soviets exploited that fragile peace by pursuing a
massive military buildup of offensive weapons. Make no mistake that the arms
race never ended, gentlemen, but at this time only one side is racing.” CHAIRMAN
JONES “I am glad
to hear you say that, Mister President. In short, I have no illusions about
what lies ahead. The coming days may be some of the most difficult in our
nation’s history. Of particular concern is the growth in the Soviet military
capability beyond what we think is necessary for their national security needs.
They are not only building civilian defenses to survive a nuclear war but the offensive
forces to win it.” PRESIDENT-ELECT
REAGAN “CHAIRMAN
JONES, I will reiterate here what I said all last year during the campaign to
underscore what will be our policy going forward, and not just campaign slogans.
It is my firm belief that war comes not when the forces of freedom are strong,
but when they are weak. It may get a little rough at times, so I will need your
support of this young administration, even if some of its members are not so
young.” (SOME LAUGHTER) CHAIRMAN
JONES “Indeed you
will. So this Pre-Inauguration Nuclear Briefing won’t take long, Mister
President. And I will still call you that, if that’s alright.” PRESIDENT-ELECT
REAGAN “I might as
well start getting used to it.” (HE SMILES) CHAIRMAN
JONES “Very well,
even though it’s not official until twelve-hundred on the 20th of January.
And at that time, an attaché from each of the armed forces will be assigned to
you and the vice president on a rotating basis accompanied with this, the
Presidential Emergency Satchel (he places his hand on the black leather suitcase).
They will be with you everywhere you go and be...” “Everywhere I go?” (LAUGHTER
IN THE ROOM) CHAIRMAN
JONES “Yes sir.
Maybe not always in the same room but certainly a few steps away. Today you
will be familiarized with the satchel, its contents and how to use them. That familiarity
may leave you with a greater sense of what is the most terrible responsibility
you will have as president ... and as vice president, MISTER BUSH.” PRESIDENT-ELECT
REAGAN “It is a
responsibility I’d prefer to be rid of. Perhaps once we restore our strength,
we can someday get rid of these awful weapons through negotiation.” (That
brings a hushed silence to the room and smiles of disbelief from the Joint
Chiefs toward REAGAN’s naivete. JONES pushes the satchel aside and an aide carries
it over to where REAGAN is sitting.) CHAIRMAN
JONES “Mister
President – gentlemen, this seems like an opening to understand why the West’s
main adversary has 40,000 nuclear warheads pointed at us and our allies. So
we’ve invited Harvard University’s top historian on the Soviet Union, and for
the past four years, the leader of what has been called the B-team to check a
détente-minded CIA when it comes to the Soviets, Mister RICHARD PIPES...” RICHARD
PIPES PIPES WALKS
TO THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE TABLE FROM REAGAN AND SPEAKS WITH A SMILE. “I’m a
great admirer of yours, sir. And it’s an honor to finally meet you. I have
advised presidents since Harry Truman and, ever since I started working with
your transition team, I’ve come to believe you’re the West’s best hope of
turning back the red tide while we still can.” REAGAN NODS TO HIM WITH A
CLOSED-MOUTH SMILE. “So Mister REAGAN,
you’re aware of how long the Cold War has been going on?” “Oh, yes. Back to my years in Hollywood.
Even before then, when I was still narrating films for the American Office of
War Information.” RICHARD
PIPES “Ah, yes. My
favorite was the film you narrated on the Tuskegee Airmen.” PRESIDENT-ELECT
REAGAN “Well, thank
you. That was one of my favorites, too.” RICHARD
PIPES “Many
people agree with you that the end of World War Two in 1945 marked the start of
the Cold War. And for us, that’s true. Others suggest it was the Bolshevik
Revolution of 1917. But I will argue until my last breath that the Cold War
began more than 400 years ago in 1547. In the...” PRESIDENT-ELECT
REAGAN “Why then?” DISSOLVE: 10 INT./EXT. Montage of scenes of Russia in the
1500s 10 WHILE PIPES IS TALKING, scenes of Ivan The Terrible’s ascendency
to tsardom are shown, including the coronation of Ivan the Fourth at the Assumption
Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, ordering the murder of aristocratic boyars, next
we seen Ivan as a weathered man in his 50s, directing from horseback a battle
against the Mongols, kneeling before church leaders who blessed him, beating
his 27-year-old son to death with a wooden club while his son tried to protect
his pregnant wife who also was beaten, and again on horseback riding with his
army, defeated by the Poles in the Baltics. RICHARD
PIPES “In the
most westerly province of the great Mongol Empire that extended from the Volga
to the Pacific. That westerly province was the Muscovite Principality where a
paranoid 16-year-old prince would emerge to impose Russia’s oppressive domestic
polices and to set its imperial foreign mission that continues to this day.
That ruler in 1547 became the first czar of Russia, Ivan the Fourth – henceforth,
Ivan the Terrible. His wars of conquest over the Mongols created a national consciousness
which had hardly existed before in Muscovy. He envisioned a New Rome to lead
and missionize Christendom from Moscow, rather than from the Vatican, and for
the next 54 years of his brutal rule, set forth a vision for establishing a Greater
Eurasia from sea to sea and dominated Eurasia from Moscow. It spread to the
Pacific in the East and soon turned west toward Europe. It achieved ruthless gains
and, for our instruction here, endured stunning setbacks that would have destroyed
other nations. Instead...” DISSOLVE: 11 INT. Pentagon E-ring, fourth-deck conference
room 11 RICHARD
PIPES “...It
regrouped, sometimes taking a century to recover enough to fight again for its
vision of a Greater Eurasia under Muscovy’s domination, and each time adding
more territory to its sphere of influence. Russia’s imperialism became a
cultural convention under Ivan that has endured to this day. After Ivan rose to
power, Russia added an average of 14,000 square miles of territory each year
over 150 years. It has proven to be very addictive and lasting.”
NSA ALLEN “Why didn’t
the Bolshevik Revolution and its crushing of religion end this desire for a
Greater Eurasia?”
RICHARD
PIPES “Good
question, Richard. Revolutions come and go in Russia. But each has been in
pursuit of new leaders to elevate Moscow as the new Rome, to control what it
considers as a restless, militant Europe as Rome once did. This imperialism
represents nationalism over patriotism and terrorism and oppression over
justice and liberty. Religion remains in the Soviet Union but, officially, only
Russian Orthodoxy and more so as a function of statecraft and national identity
rather than as a source of spiritual strength. At the end of World War Two,
Russia saw its best chance to dominate all of Europe just as America shed its isolationism
and rebuilt war-torn Western Europe under America’s protection. So we’re the
latest and biggest barrier in the path of Russia’s drive for a Greater Eurasia.”
PRESIDENT-ELECT
REAGAN “Very
interesting. Let me ask you – do you want a job? (LAUGHS AROUND THE ROOM) “I
could use more men like you.”
The subtle,
tense background music fades out.
NSA ALLEN “Given all
of this history, it seems that the Russians’ culture is quite defined by their
institutionalized imperialism.”
VICE
PRESIDENT-ELECT BUSH “It would
seem so,” he says, as one of the generals lights a cigarette.
PRESIDENT-ELECT
REAGAN “Mister
Pipes, since the Russians are playing the long game, perhaps you can tell me where
there’s a happy ending in all of this?”
RICHARD
PIPES “I'm a
history professor, not a prognosticator, Mister President. Sorry.”
“But by understanding their
history, you know the Russians’ tendencies, including their weaknesses, correct?”
RICHARD
PIPES “The
Russians do back down when confronted with strength, but they don’t stay down.
Like water, they persist in finding a new way through. They're also very
paranoid, like Ivan. It's a trait found throughout Russian aristocracy. That
makes them vulnerable to feints and provocations but they’re also very
dangerous and unpredictable. It’s a delicate balancing act. If you play to
their paranoia correctly, you can back them down. But if you scare them too
much to where they become convinced that you’re going to attack them, they may
try to attack you first.”
REAGAN nods
and jots down some notes.
NSA ALLEN “That brings
me to another question, and it’s admittedly a leading question. So before we
get to the nuclear football, can the Chiefs tell us how many different response
scenarios to a nuclear attack exist in the Single Integrated Operational Plan?”
CHAIRMAN
JONES “There’s literally
dozens of options within each of the limited, intermediate and major attack
options. And each of these are based on a response to what we believe is the
Red SIOP being carried out against us by the enemy which can range from requiring
a launch-on-warning in the event of a decapitation strike to...”
PRESIDENT-ELECT
REAGAN “Chairman,
the decision to launch, regardless of the attack scenario, is mine to make. And
you say there are dozens of these contingency responses to a nuclear attack? Everything
would happen so fast that I wonder how much planning or reason could be applied
in a crisis like this. As I understand, the Russians’ submarines off the East
Coast could destroy Washington DC within six minutes. Six minutes to decide how
to respond to a blip on a radar scope and whether to unleash Armageddon! How
can anyone apply reason at a time like that?”
CHAIRMAN
JONES “That’s why
we need launch-on-warning as an option. And it’s why our military trains repeatedly
on the SIOP options so that they can act quickly and instinctively, sir. And
you will too, Mister President and Mister Vice President. You’ll be a part of
it starting with your first briefing on the SIOP in March.”
NSA ALLEN “But RON’s
concern is my concern -- albeit from the other side. Look at it from the Soviets’
perspective. Perhaps the Joint Chiefs have some reassurances, but think about
what happened last summer when a malfunctioning computer chip made us think we
were under attack. If it’s happening to us, it’s happening to them. I find it
very unsettling that we are confronted by an incredibly paranoid opponent at a
time when the military technology of the day has grown so powerful and so fast
that it has reduced warning times to so little that our nation’s survival,
indeed the survival of the world, is at the mercy of an enemy who must decide
our fate in less time than it takes the general to finish his cigarette.” One of the
generals was extinguishing his cigarette by stabbing it into an ashtray, with
the smoke rising from the ashes.
CHAIRMAN
JONES “I
appreciate your concern, but after that computer malfunction last June, we
expanded the access points for MOLINK to include the Joint Chiefs and the
Stavka.”
PRESIDENT-ELECT
REAGAN “MOLINK?”
CHAIRMAN
JONES “That’s the
so-called hotline, a teleprinter system between the White House and Moscow that
was established after the Cuban Missile Crisis. It now includes the military
leadership so we can avoid escalations resulting from technical malfunctions like
the one that MISTER ALLEN was talking about. So we’ve already addressed that.”
NSA ALLEN “What about
escalations caused by something else?” His question is answered only by puzzled
looks. “What about a cultural or political misunderstanding? Look, given the incredibly short warning times of attack and the fact that neither side trusts the other, we need to
beef up our intelligence gathering. We need to know that an attack may be
coming before they give the order. I don’t know about you, but I’m someone who
prefers to have an umbrella ready before it rains.”
PRESIDENT-ELECT
REAGAN “Yes, agreed. Let’s make it happen. Now, I’m dying to see what’s inside that nuclear football. General?” |
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