“Yes,” Countess New Kiev agreed. “And not just the military situation, either.” She gave the Foreign Secretary a sharp glance, to which Descroix did her best to appear completely oblivious.

“I believe Elaine speaks for all of us, Edward,” High Ridge pronounced in those same, measured tones, and Janacek gritted his teeth for a heartbeat or two.

“Obviously,” he began once he was confident he could keep his own tone level, “the fact that we’ve suffered an Intelligence failure on this scale makes any precise estimate of the situation difficult, if not impossible. I have, of course, discussed the nature and extent of that Intelligence failure with Admiral Jurgensen, and I assure you that we will be using every resource available to us in our efforts to repair it.”

“Is Jurgensen the right man to be repairing anything?” Descroix asked, and twitched one shoulder when Janacek looked at her. “Whatever else may have happened, Edward, one thing is certain. As you just said, we’ve suffered an enormous intelligence failure, and Admiral Jurgensen is Second Space Lord. Ultimately, the performance of ONI is his responsibility, and it would appear to me that he’s failed in it.”

“Francis Jurgensen is a dedicated and conscientious officer,” Janacek replied. He spoke with careful, deliberate emphasis, every centimeter the First Lord of Admiralty defending a subordinate, even as he heaved a huge internal sigh of relief that Descroix had pointed her accusing finger at someone besides himself. “Obviously, we’re currently engaged in a major reassessment of ONI’s performance, and we believe we’ve already identified several weak links. The majority of them are holdovers from the Mourncreek Admiralty, but I must admit that a substantial percentage of them are people we put into place after assuming office. The problem is that someone can look very good on paper or even on the basis of his past record and still conceal serious weaknesses. Unfortunately, those sorts of weaknesses only become apparent after a failure calls attention to them. That happens fairly frequently in intelligence work, I’m afraid, but this time the failure was rather more… spectacular than most.

“I feel it would be inappropriate to relieve Admiral Jurgensen at this time. In part, that’s because I believe he deserves an opportunity to correct the problems he’s only recently discovered rather than being scapegoated individually for the failures of a great many people. But I also feel that ‘changing horses in midstream’ is often a serious mistake. Any newcomer as Second Space Lord would start from scratch in his new position. He’d have to learn everything about his job, and there would be an inevitable period of disruption and distraction while he did so. Admiral Jurgensen, on the other hand, already has ample evidence of things which have gone wrong. With that evidence in hand and the intimate familiarity with the mechanics and internal dynamics of his command which he’s gained over the last several T-years, I feel he’s in a position to offer a continuity and effectiveness any new appointee would find very difficult to match.”