Chapter 15

By the weekend there would be two hundred and fifty resignations on my desk. Troy brought me the list of federal judges who were scheduled to be retiring this year - that alone that was another one hundred positions and there were more of those to come. The search began for judges who I would nominate. The first and major requirement was they had not tried to legislate from the bench.

Next came investigations into things that I was not supposed to do. All the social media of prospective candidates were thoroughly searched, including any organizations they belong to. Also included - their politics, including who they supported, who they donated to and any campaigns they had endorsed or worked on. I also wanted all papers they had written and all speeches they had given.

Every case they had ever decided on, commented on, or if their ruling was appealed was to be investigated. Those where an appeals court deemed the ruling to be unconstitutional would be doubly investigated. If they made it to the interview sessions, they would be questioned deeply about their decisions and rulings associated with the case. My researchers had plenty to do.

General Ingram had decided he was going to stay on as chairman of the Joint Chiefs; he had two more years that he could serve in that capacity. However, I needed to replace the other Chiefs. Troy and I worked the rest of the afternoon on that part of the puzzle because they should be the first nominees that I sent to the Senate for approval.

I settled on General Richard Irons for the Army Chief; he was the general over the army troops in the invasion of Iran. I chose Marine General John Downs for the Marine Chief position. For the Air Force Chief, I chose Air Force General Glenn Armstrong. For the National Guard Chief I chose General Randolph McVee and for the Secretary of Defense I chose Fleet Admiral Montgomery Scott.

Because of political rules, Congress would have to issue a waiver for Admiral Scott to serve as Secretary of Defense. My staff who polled the Senators before a final decision assured me that Scott would pass muster in the Senate.

I reappointed Frank Love as director of the CIA. He and I had worked together just so well, I couldn’t see anyone else in that position. I did the same with Marty Coeburn at the FBI and Eric Roberson at the DHS.

After lunch I spent the rest of the afternoon on calls to various leaders, starting with Mexico’s President Martinez and then many more of the Central and South American countries.

The speech I had given in response to a reporter’s question in Mexico City about the war on drugs had started small but was growing. Now there were only a handful of countries in the America’s that were not on board. Even Australia was on board as an associate member of the ‘‘International Antidrug Enforcement Coalition”.

The meeting for all the countries to sign on was finalized today. That meeting was to take place in Washington on the first of February. The coalition members would vote on the charter and bylaws. We would then work on the final rules and laws that in some cases had already been passed or were in the process of being passed by member countries.

All were designed to put the screws on illegal manufacture, transporting, sale and possession of illegal drugs. The members had a hodgepodge of laws but in the new coalition, those laws would be uniform and harsh for those in the illegal drug business.

It would require lengthy sentences, confiscation of property and wealth with a real search for hidden wealth of those profiting from the misery of the drug trade. The death penalty would be the only penalty and it would be aggressively used for those convicted of manufacturing, distribution and trafficking in illegal drugs.

It would require isolation of countries that were involved in the drug trade by the member nations including ending air travel, cruises and trade embargoes. This one was a tough one to negotiate because the United Nations did everything it could to interfere.

In fact, the UN tried to derail the process at every step. They wanted control and funding to carry out the antidrug coalition goals. Everyone knew how worthless the UN would be. China, Pakistan, India, North Korea, Thailand and several more were the biggest non-America producers of Illegal drugs. China would block any actions at the UN that interfered with its grand plan.

The lab that JBG had built in the old shopping center had been operating for four months and already had tested eight thousand samples of illicit drugs. The DNA test was narrowing down the where the drugs were coming from.

Cocaine samples were showing that it was coming from lower Central America and South America now. With the JBG security zone working, most were from shipping and air travelers. People were being paid to bring drugs to the US in their body cavities.