“We’re convinced that he has the torpedoes he told you about. The technology’s been around since the Soviet era and the artificial intelligence needed to operate them isn’t that much more advanced than what we see in modern video games. Also, because this would have been a priority for him, we can assume that he’s deployed a significant number of them.”

“So tell me this, Fred. Why the hell don’t we have three-hundred-knot, artificially intelligent underwater missiles?”

“We’re actually working on the technology, but the program hasn’t seen much funding. We have a level of naval superiority that makes them a bit moot. Besides, as a country, we’ve shied away from putting life-and-death decisions in the hands of computers. Our strong bias is to have a human in the loop.”

“But the Japanese don’t have that bias.”

“No. What they have is a limited population base and limited resources. There are records of Takahashi’s predecessor talking about his philosophy of small, cheap, and independent. It seems like they’ve stuck with that.”

“How would they launch them? They don’t have much of a navy. I mean, I assume the intelligence community that I keep writing billion-dollar checks to would notice if the Japanese were building a fleet of submarines.”

“We assume that they reside on the bottom of the ocean, waiting for a go signal.”

“Great,” Castilla said.

“With regard to missile defense, my people also think Takahashi is telling the truth.”

“So, the US has spent God knows how much on our system and we can’t hit the broad side of a barn. But a little island in the Pacific has completely nailed it.”

“We’ve looked into a similar EMP-based shield in the past but decided not to pursue it. I don’t have to tell you that we have to tread carefully on missile defense in order not to skew the balance of power so much that it could prompt an attack. And to be clear, Sam, these are nuclear weapons. The US has never looked to acquire this kind of tactical nuclear capability. Once you start down that road, things can escalate pretty quickly.”

Klein flipped a page in the file. “The biological weapon is a simple matter. As you know we—”

“Have a moral objection to biological weapons,” Castilla said, finishing his sentence. “It’s unbelievable that we even have a defense industry with all these caveats.”

Klein leaned back in his chair, examining the side of his friend’s face. It would have been bad enough if he stopped there, but the president of the United States had to have the whole story.

“We also need to talk about what Takahashi didn’t say, Sam.”

Castilla finally looked directly at him. “What he didn’t say?”

“We have to assume that they have autonomous fighter drones based on their torpedo technology and that our planes would be no match for them.”