Executive Orders
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| Executive Orders | |
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 First edition cover art |
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| Author(s) | Tom Clancy |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Jack Ryan universe |
| Genre(s) | Novel, Thriller |
| Publisher | Putnam |
| Publication date | 1996 (1st edition) |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
| Pages | 874 p. (hardback edition) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-399-14218-5 (hardback edition) |
| OCLC Number | 34878804 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.54 20 |
| LC Classification | PS3553.L245 E9 1996 |
| Preceded by | Debt of Honor |
| Followed by | Rainbow Six |
Executive Orders is a political and military thriller novel by Tom Clancy. It was published in 1996, and is a canonical part of the Jack Ryan universe.
[edit] Plot summary
Jack Ryan is sworn in as President of the United States minutes after becoming Vice-President. With most of Congress, the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. military, much of the senior staff of the Executive Office of the President, the Supreme Court, and all but two members of the Cabinet dead in a terrorist attack committed by a lone Japan Air Lines pilot (avenging the death of his son and brother in Debt of Honor), Ryan is left to represent the United States virtually all by himself. This novel follows Ryan as he deals with various hardships and crises, ranging from domestic and foreign policy, to reconstituting the House and Senate, a challenge to his legitimacy by his Vice-Presidential predecessor, scandal-tainted Ed Kealty, and a brewing war in the Middle East. After learning that the majority of the government is dead, two bigoted and fanatical militia-men decide to capitalize on the situation by killing both Ryan and Kealty.
When the President of Iraq is assassinated by an Iranian member of his own security detail, the leader of Iran (Ayatollah Mahmoud Haji Daryaei) takes advantage of the power vacuum and launches an unopposed invasion of Iraq, uniting the two countries into one called the United Islamic Republic (UIR).
With assistance from India and the People's Republic of China, the UIR plans to transform itself into a superpower by conquering Saudi Arabia. Following a series of Iranian-backed terrorist attacks designed to cripple the United States, including a failed kidnap attempt on Ryan's youngest daughter and a bio-warfare attack using a new Iranian-developed airborne strain of the extremely lethal Ebola virus, the UIR goes to war against Saudi and Kuwaiti forces. Meanwhile, Iran's ally China 'accidentally' shoots down a Taiwanese airliner. The UIR's top-secret bio-warfare program is created by using test-monkeys to grow the Ebola virus. The Ebola virus is first gathered from the monkeys, and then released within the the borders of the USA.
As a result of the Ebola attack, President Jack Ryan restricts interstate travel, declares martial law and closes schools and businesses to contain the virus. The bio-war attack is so fierce that it sputters out, because Ebola kills so many victims so quickly that it cannot spread itself effectively. Ebola thus tends toward limited outbreaks. Nevertheless, the travel restrictions imposed by Ryan in order to quarantine the virus inadvertently derail the extreme right-wingers' assassination attempt. During a routine police check at a truck stop, one of the rebel Mountain Men panics, drawing police attention to their unusual truck.
In a matter of days, with the combined strength of the Kuwaiti, Saudi Arabian and American forces, the tide is turned in the battle with UIR. At the same time, President Ryan sends Ding Chavez and John Clark on a secret mission. They infiltrate Iran and facilitate the assassination of Ayatollah Daryaei. At the same time, an assassination attempt by an Iranian sleeper agent within the U.S. Secret Service is foiled. During a press conference, President Ryan shows the destruction of Daryaei's residence on live national television. Ryan threatens to bomb bio-warfare targets in Tehran with a tactical nuclear device unless the surviving people responsible for the attacks are extradited to America to face charges.
Disgraced Former Vice President Kealty's challenge to President Ryan's legitimacy fails in court. In the aftermath of the crisis, appreciation of the unelected President grows. President Ryan decides he will seek reelection.
[edit] See also
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