“You will not like what I am going to say,” said Howard. “But I have to. The bottom line is this. If the NAC continues to insist on retaining the right to give me the green light for each stage of what I need to do as your Supreme Commander, then I guarantee that NATO will fail in this endeavor. And if we fail to eject the Russians from the Baltic states, having assembled this impressive force, then the Alliance will have no future. And Europe will have no future. And Russia will have won. I don’t need to once again spell out the political or military consequences of that horror scenario . . .”

McKinlay heard a perceptible intake of breath from around the table.

The German ambassador scowled and raised his hand.

Howard ignored the interruption and continued. “If I had been sitting here thirty-five years ago, as your SACEUR, during the Cold War, I would have had the authority to deploy forces when I wanted if faced with Warsaw Pact aggression. I would not have had to turn to the NAC for the green light at each step on the way. Let me give you an example. My predecessors as SACEUR were able to order the deployment of the ACE, Allied Command Europe, Mobile Force—a multinational immediate response force—to meet any of its contingency plans once NATO’s activation warning order ACTWARN had been declared. There was no requirement to go back to the NAC. As a result, NATO was able to make decisions with real agility and effectiveness.”

McKinlay could see the German ambassador muttering to himself and scribbling furiously.

“Contrast that with NATO’s recent failure to deploy the Very High Readiness Joint Task Force, the successor to the ACE Mobile Force, to the Baltic states quickly enough to deter the Russians from invading. Had I been able to do that without the authority of the NAC, I believe we would not be sitting here today, with Russia occupying three NATO countries. The irony is that many of the units were ready to deploy, but I had no authority to send them.”

Now the French and German ambassadors were whispering to each other.

Kostilek banged the table with his gavel. “Please be good enough to let SACEUR finish.”

Howard continued, “The NAC’s insistence on clearing in advance any plan by the NATO Military Authorities is a product of an era that has now passed. I concede that it was politically expedient in Afghanistan, given the very different role of NATO out there. But I have to tell you . . . this creeping reduction in SACEUR’s authority will guarantee military failure if it continues. You may think you are the only ones to have been briefed on my top secret plan. But I also have to tell you, that anything you are briefed upon will be on the President’s desk in Moscow within hours.”