833 Two Seconds

In the conference room, the conference table was fully occupied. The people gathered around there was the hierarchy of UA's power.

Not only senior officials of the Department of Defense were present, but also the politicians made a rare visit this conference room. From the left-hand side of the Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, were President Hill, her chief of staff, and the national security advisor.

The atmosphere at the conference table was tense. Everyone had a gloomy expression on their faces.

The door of the conference room was pushed open, and a young man dressed in a suit holding a thick stack of documents strolled in.

"Morell, you are late." Ashton Carter was not pleased.

"Sorry, it took a while to print these materials... what happened to my seat?"

"There are a lot of people today." Sighing, Mr. Carter looked at the assistant standing next to him. "Help Mr. Morrel bring in a chair."

"Okay." The assistant nodded and headed out.

Hill exchanged look with her chief of staff and then looked at Ashton.

"Since everyone is here, can we start?"

"Of course," Ashton nodded, looking at Morrel. "Well, let's start with the Guam military base."

"Okay, boss." Morrel immediately turned the document to the page on Guam. He couldn't bother with the chair anymore as he started to read the document standing up. "At 3 in the morning, on July 24th, Celestial Trade launched a Dolphin-10 ballistic missile from a submarine missile silo located in western part of the Pacific. When the missile rose to the stratosphere, it briefly appeared on the THAAD anti-missile system deployed at the Guam military base..."

"Briefly appeared?" Hill's eyebrows raised. Her pen gently tapped on the book as she interrupted Morrel's speech. "I want to know how many minutes briefly refers to."

Morrel's expression suddenly turned peculiar when he heard the question, and he gave a subtle glimpse at his boss Ashton.

However, the latter did not seem to take the hint and said impatiently.

"The president asked you a question, don't waste our time."

"Yes…"

Morrel quickly nodded and looked at Hill. After he hesitated for a moment, he finally decided to tell the truth to everyone around the table.

"Two seconds."

The conference room went quiet.

Although it had been quiet all along, Morrel felt a deathly silence at the very moment.

"...Thanks." Taking the chair from the assistant, Morrel felt relieved as he whispered and sat in his chair.

The feeling of being focused on by everyone, he couldn't take a second longer.

Silence continued for a while around the conference table, and Hill broke the silence and said to Ashton.

"If the Ministry of Defense's budget is not enough, you can just tell me. there is no need to play games in this meeting."

Ashton was completely dumbfounded and had yet to recover from the two-second figure.

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[How could this be possible!]

[From the Moro War of Independence, Celestial Trade forced UA to compromise with intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the UA strengthened its anti-missile deployment at the Guam military base. Not only is the most advanced THAAD system deployed at Guam, but the radar of the original Patriot 3 air defense system was also updated...]

But now, the head of the military base in Guam told him that they only observed the missile for two seconds?

Moreover, the missile was observed in the most easily captured stage and most likely to be intercepted. The acceleration phase from the launch point to the low orbit!

Seeing that the boss was silent, Morrel thought that he needed to help him, so he continued.

"No, it has nothing to do with the budget... The invisibility technology of Dolphin-10 is extremely advanced. Not just us, our allies, Nippon, didn't even notice Celestial Trade launched a ballistic missile..."

"What do you do with the 600 billion US Dollar budget we give you each year! How could you not even catch a missile from a tiny country?" An official cursed in anger.

"This can't be blamed on us entirely! We are developing anti-missile technology. They are also upgrading ballistic missile technology!"

"Haha, explain it to the taxpayers!"

"..."

The conference table was full of noise and shouting. Hill, who was the first to speak, was silent.

Using an intercontinental ballistic missile to launch at a neighboring country that was a few hundred kilometers apart was no different from hitting a mosquito with a cannon. Obviously, Celestial Trade had other motives. Explicitly, it was targeting Country F, but in fact it was testing the capability of THAAD.

If the system wouldn't be able to discover missiles, then never mind the anti-ballistic missiles.

Hill suddenly pessimistically discovered that Celestial Trade was ahead of the UA in both EMP and missile technology.

The horrors of M City have already proved the terrifying power of EMP weapons against modern civilization.

The entire city was turned back into the Stone Age overnight, from traffic to social order, all were destroyed. There was no pollution residue, not even death, but the consequences were even more terrifying than killing tens of thousands of people.

If EMP detonates over any of the UA city...

Hill couldn't even imagine it, but one thing would be certain.

The economy of the entire world would regress by at least two decades.

Since the Cuban Missile Crisis, the national security situation in the UA had never been so severely tested...

"Immediately increase the research and development budget for anti-EMP technology! I don't want to wait until the EMP hits us, only the tanks and armored vehicles will be able to move in the country. Also the anti-missile system! If THAAD fails, we will change to something else. Within five months, I need a solution! If that doesn't work, then people need to be replaced." Hill stared at Ashton in dead seriousness.

The latter held his breath and nodded in stiffness.

"I promise."

"Then, today's meeting is over." Hill stood up.

Morrel, who saw Hilary planned to leave, immediately said as he had not completed the report.

"Wait, there are cybersecurity issues! In Celestial Trade's cyber attacks against Country Fs, we sent network security experts to remotely assist Country F government defense—"

"And we lost?" Hill looked at Morrell without any expression, and her eyes began to narrow along with her wrinkles. "I don't want to hear you report on your incompetence. I hope you can have solutions as soon as possible!"

"Yes..." Morrel swallowed, then stiffly nodded.

Immediately afterward, Hill looked to her Chief of Staff.

"Help me adjust my schedule. Cancel all afternoon and evening plans and leave the rest of the day open. I need to go to see the United Nations. EMP weapons must be restricted. Later I will go to the CIB. Tell them to wait for me in the office."

"Okay." The chief of staff nodded.

"In addition, send John Kerry to City M. We must have a conversation with Jiang Chen."