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successfully evacuated all personnel to the shuttle, and were able to avoid
destruction by quickly maneuvering away from the Space Station.
 Unfortunately, the Space Station was hit and is a complete loss. Its wreckage
will fall to earth sometime on the evening of the 29thin what we hope is a
remote area of the southwest Atlantic Ocean, although the exact location is as
of yet undetermined.
 Also, unfortunately, Discovery did not avoid damage, and the damage is
severe. As most of you have already seen on the video, one of the shuttle s
wings was damaged by the weapon s kinetic payload. The damage has rendered the
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shuttle incapable of re-entering the Earth s atmosphere and landing. Without
relief, the fourteen personnel on the shuttle have enough air for a maximum of
twelve more days. Without relief before that time, they will all die.
The relative silence of the room was broken at this point by the murmured
conversation of several of those present, and a number of people trying to
question John at once. To bring order to the room, and to allow the briefing
to continue, the President spoke up.
 I know this is distressing news for all of us. It represents a tremendous
setback to the international community& the free international community,,at
the least. The investment in the time and the hardware is lost, but certainly
not in the knowledge we have developed and not, as of yet in, those fourteen
brave souls marooned on the Discovery. We will find a way to bring them down,
so help me God.
 In the meantime, as difficult as it is to say this, the hard fact is that the
rest of John s briefing is even more important and more distressing from an
overall perspective. John, please continue.
John Bowers was grateful for the President s intervention. He did not want to
cut people off in mid-conversation people who were still his senior cabinet
members, and who were coming to grips with so many difficulties at once. He
preferred to let the President handle that.
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As the room quieted down, he continued,  As the President has said, from an
overall strategic and military perspective, the rest of the briefing is even
more significant. With the exceptions of our geosynchronous assets, two
satellites that the ChineseKV s missed, two KH-12s that we were able to
maneuver out of the way, and one KH-12 that was severely damaged, all of the
other satellites targeted by the Chinese have been destroyed. I have included
the following table for each of you summarizing these losses.
TOP SECRET; TABLE 1-1
EYES ONLY
Summary of satellite losses
03-26-06
AGENCY/
ASSET BRANCH STATUS PRCKV s
Space
Station NASA 1 destroyed 3
Shuttle
Discovery NASA 1 damaged N/A
KH-12
Satellites NRO 2 destroyed 10
1 damaged
2 undamaged
3 not targeted
Commsats
SPACOM 3 destroyed 3
6 not targeted
GPS
SATs Army/Navy 3 destroyed 3
8 not targeted
Civilian
SATs News/GPS 3 destroyed 3
12 not targeted
Totals:
STATUS PRCKV s
12 destroyed 8 functioned
2 damaged 2 malfunctioned
29 not targeted 2 missed
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After everyone had scanned the table for a few seconds, the National Security
Advisor continued,  Okay, just what does this mean?
 Quite frankly, it means that we have lost a significant portion of our
surveillance, GPS targeting, satellite communication, and satellite-based news
communication capabilities in the Western Pacific and the
Middle East. In essence, the People s Republic has very nearly done to us what
we have done to them.
With the two surviving and operational KH-12s, we have retained only limited
surveillance capability.
That remaining capability is predominantly focused in a band over the more
southern portions of the two theaters of operation.
 It also means that we must presume that the Chinese, once they have assessed
the results of their operation, will attempt to finish the job, both in the
Pacific and Middle East and perhaps elsewhere, just as we will be doing. We do
not know how much inventory they have, or what their capability is to restock
it, but we must now presume that they have stockpiled significant quantities
and that they came to this fight prepared. Anything less makes no sense.
 Finally, in closing, what are we capable of doing about it?
 Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, we have several options, some of them [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]