Chapter 128

Thursday morning I carried the morning updates with me to the briefing room for the national security briefing. I was getting better at speed reading and did while the other members assembled.

They always went through some big routine of having aides open cases and placing everything at their fingertips for them. I just kept reading until everyone was finally seated.

I was at the end of the table and had them start to the left and work all the way around. It was a big day on intelligence; everyone had a lot to say - it was going to be a long meeting.

At 0930 I was back in the Oval Office. I took a few minutes to write my response to the resignation of Justice Copeland. I would send it to Harry as soon as the court made its announcement.

Admiral John Patterson came in with the update that I had asked for; he was ten minutes early.

‘‘Newport News Ship Building is working as you ordered. The Washington and the Truman will be done on the time frame you want. The work is also on going to the Bush and the Eisenhower, possibly in the time frame you want,’’ he said.

‘‘The engineers are looking at the Stennis issue - no decision yet,’’ he added.

‘‘The CV67 conventionally fueled Kennedy is at Philadelphia navy yard awaiting final disposition. Find out how long to put her back in service with an all hands effort. Fuel rods won’t be a problem - enough tankers might be?’’ I asked.

‘‘You are planning to smack someone pretty damn hard,’’ he said.

‘‘Daily reports are not getting any better. Keep me updated and get me some answers,’’ I said as I stood up.

Troy, Connie and I went to the meeting room for the special staff meeting I had called. Many of the people were already in there waiting.

‘‘Connie, can you find the Supreme Court’s daily briefing on the TV?’’ I asked.

At 1000 the briefing started; it was the first item of the briefing.

‘‘I have the resignation in my desk, I assume there is an official procedure that has to be followed. President Thomas nominated three during his seven years.’’

‘‘I expect there was already a plan for the next nomination. Is there a list of prospects that have been prescreened that I can review?’’ I asked.

‘‘Yes there is. Several have been added that have not been screened yet. I will get you the list,’’ Troy replied.

I handed Troy the press statement I had written. Troy nodded and sent it to the press room for Harry to read at the press briefing.

The rest of the meeting was discussing the list of prospective judges.

I ate lunch with Marcy and talked of things at home. I was wanting to see the little ones; their innocence and time with them had become a form of stress relief for me.

I listened while she filled me in on things that happened at home today. She had been on VCATS with Andy, Jenny and Vicky. The Iranian fast boats were out playing again today. They were trying to get our boats to follow them into Iranian waters.

Aaron Purcell was prepared for such tricks and the boats didn’t fall for it. The Iranians finally gave up and went back to their base.

We were leaving Washington at noon tomorrow for the island. We were flying into Morton in Marine One as we did the last time. The Secret Service finally decided it was a good option to dealing with the traffic.

The hunt was still on for Saturday; no one had backed out, even after all the press.

The press was busy today following all the Congressional complaining about the vetoing of the budget. Congress was hard at work trimming dollars here and there. They were even debating closing some of the agencies I had marked.

Then the press was in a tizzy about the retirement of Justice Copeland. The liberals especially - they were already trying to get the Senators to block any nomination that I made, saying I was undeserving of the power to appoint a Supreme Court judge as I was not elected by the people.

Vice President Harrison sent me a note that the Senate was anxiously awaiting my nomination for the court to debate and hold a vote before the spring break.

At least that was encouraging and a positive note that my judgment would be seriously considered.

Troy finally found the list of prospective judges. There were nine male and six female. The top three on the list were female and that suited me to keep a balance on the court.

I sent the top three to the FBI and DHS for a new complete background investigation with a rush note attached. They had already been subjected to a preliminary investigation; this would finish it and update any missing items.

I had several calls from the Senate and the House about the budget and what changes it would take for me to sign it. Discussions that went nowhere.

Again Troy and Connie helped me. When the government shuts down because of a budget impasse the President can earmark essential agencies that can keep operating.

We started going through the list, first departments to stay operating was the Social Security agency, several intelligence agencies, the DOD, Veterans Affairs, DHS, Air Traffic Controllers and the FBI. I pondered about the National Park Service and finally added it to the list.

The National Park Service was now actively helping the Border Patrol fight the cartel in the parks that were along the Mexican border. The JBG Security zone had stopped more influx but the cartel had taken over the National Parks and were growing marijuana and processing drugs within the National Forest.