The War Planners by Andrew Watts Read Free Book Online

Lacoste shirt.  David thought he looked like he was from India or Pakistan.
     He said, “Hello guys, I’m Natesh.  I am glad to meet all of you.  I just arrived here today like you.  Also like you, I didn’t know where I was going or what this exactly was about.  Lena gave me a little bit of a preview about 30 minutes ago.  Needless to say, I’m still in shock.  Probably like a lot of you.  But I’m glad that I’m getting the opportunity to contribute to something so important.” 
    David thought this young man looked like he was out of his league. He seemed nervous.  David didn’t blame him.  Still, he spoke with an easy-going tone that made him instantly trustworthy. 
    Natesh continued, “Like Lena said, my team and I work in California with a variety of companies.  We help some of the top firms in the world increase their level of innovation in new products and services.  Normally I bring members of my team with me.  Due to the sensitive nature of this project, it’s just me here this time.  To put it simply, I’m an idea guy.  I’ve built my company by helping other companies create winning ideas. I have been brought in to act as a moderator during the sessions. I plan to break us up into teams for much of the time, and I’ll float between stations.  Sometimes, if the conversation goes to one of my areas of expertise, I’ll offer insights.  Honestly, while I don’t have much expertise in the invasion department...” Natesh was half-laughing in disbelief as he said that.  “...I’m a strategist at my core.  I think you’ll find that I can help connect some of your insights in ways that will make our overarching ideas more powerful.”  The classroom smiled with a tense politeness.  David could tell that from the expressions that people were just beginning to wrap their minds around what was going on.   
    Natesh said, “Please use your area of expertise where it is helpful, but be flexible and open to new ideas.  Try not to say `that won’t work’ too much.  Use the people around you to find out new ways that it can work.  Think about the links from one activity to another.  Try to help figure out all of the possible connections and solutions.  I will help out with this more as we go.  Thanks, and I look forward to working with you all.”
    Lena said, “Thank you Natesh.  Today, we’ll go over what we, as representatives of our country, know to be true right now.  Our big-picture goal for week one is to identify potential vulnerabilities.  The goal of week two is to plan out how to best take action to capitalize on those vulnerabilities.”
    A deep voice from the back of the room spoke up, “Are we going to be planning the actual defenses too?”
    Lena looked up and cocked her head.  She spoke with the effortless rhythm of someone who had done a thousand public speaking events. “Could you please state your name and your background?”
    The man cleared his throat.  “Sure.  Sorry.  Uhum.  My name is Bill Stanley.  I’m a defense contractor.  I work on satellite connections to drones and reconnaissance aircraft. And I’m retired Air Force.”
    Lena said, “Excellent.   Mr. Stanley, welcome to the island and thank you for your service.  To answer your question, we want you to help build out a potential Chinese attack plan with your knowledge of what the expected American response would look like.   We want you to plan around that as if you are really trying to win the war for the Chinese.  Some of you have actually worked on counter-terrorism plans.  Some of you have worked on plans to counter “what-if” scenarios...like if North Korea invaded the South or if China invaded Taiwan.  But ladies and gentlemen, this is going to be different.”
    She clicked a remote control in her hand and a large flat screen monitor in the front of the room went from a black screen to a map of the Pacific Rim. 
    “The short answer to Mr. Stanley’s question is