Chapter 463 - 454: Secret Talks_1

Before the "Deepening Friendly Cooperation Agreement" was officially signed, John had just received a copy.

In his office, the Cold War relic Alfred picked up the fax and swiftly glanced over it before calmly placing it on the table.

"Sir, I don’t think you invited this old antique here just to engage in some sort of witchcraft prayer session."

"Don’t say that, cough cough... it was an accident last time..."

Last time Alfred tried to find John, but Pio stopped him; however, his encounter with a group of witches at the Presidential Palace still managed to leak out on a small scale, which particularly infuriated Alfred.

Fortunately for him, he had witnessed plenty of chaos throughout the year, but he still took the opportunity to express his dissatisfaction.

After the Artemis II accident, John felt that the previous plan was completely disrupted. His staff team was not reliable enough, and with McMaster not by his side, he thought it over and decided to ask some "historically tested strategists" to help him analyze the situation.

Of the most famous figures, the greatest loss was Brzezinski, an elite with visionary insight and strategic cunning, who had passed away in May.

After much consideration, Alfred was still active and therefore was brought back to the Presidential Palace with his disciples, taking a familiar route.

"Alfred, I want to know why our space program has become unreliable?"

John asked directly about his biggest doubt, noting that from the Dream Chaser at the beginning of the year to present, within six months, America had experienced two manned flight safety missions, which was certainly high-risk.

"We’ve provided ample funding and supported NACA with everything it desired; so why has it turned out like this? And yet, the Chinese People, who seem even more eager, have not had any safety incidents."

Alfred was well prepared for this question and gestured for someone to bring out a report.

"I’m sure you remember the XAP’s large-scale recall of Chinese expatriate elites, which the CIA put a lot of effort into, leading to the mass expulsion or marginalization of Chinese employees."

John: "That was necessary. NACA has studied XAP. They must have a strong technical base, but there is no direct connection with their space agency, so that can only come from the outside, not out of thin air."

"Yes, that’s one of the reasons." Alfred flipped open the report and pointed at a chart, explaining:

"America is a nation of immigrants; we initially absorbed scientists and elites from Europe, and of course we still do.

But the Chinese People are also an important part; they are smart, diligent, and creative. Back then, Lin Hua who came here to study with funding helped us design the ’Militia’ series of ballistic missiles, which are still a pillar of our missile system to this day; Wang An’s computer company shone brightly in the last century, and this is even more so in semiconductors—the Chinese community is a formidable research force.

Since we weakened them, we had to make up for it elsewhere, which turned out to be the Indian contingent."

John: "I think I’m beginning to understand something."

Alfred: "Boeing has been outsourcing more and more software work to cheaper Indian engineers, whose educational system is far less rigorous and serious than China’s, and their industrial base is weaker, so immaturity shows through everywhere. Although they may seem similar, they are actually quite different.

Look at the newly established SpaceX; their spacecraft and rockets have carried out many missions, nearly all successful except for the experimental ones, and the difference with Boeing is that they have nearly eliminated subpar Indian talent.

We cannot rely on the Chinese because they aren’t loyal enough, nor can we depend on the Indians, as they are not capable of sustaining a high-tech system."

"So we must cultivate homegrown talent?"

Alfred nodded with an expression that showed he approved, asserting with conviction:

"I’ve attended several think tank meetings, and we believe that the consequences of allowing industrial outsourcing have become extremely serious, as evidenced by the failure of the Artemis project. We must at least curb this trend."

"In the future, we should provide substantial subsidies to small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprises and to local students, to replace unreliable contractors with high-quality American-made products and domestic elites, thus recreating the miracle of the last century."

"Your Excellency, we are facing an unprecedented monster. Their industrial output is astonishingly large, the educated population is several times larger than ours, and their steel production exceeds the sum of the second to the tenth in the world. Never before has there been such a formidable opponent."

"Not only do we need to revitalise ourselves, but we also need to maintain control over Europe to keep our advantage."

Alfred’s words made John reflect for a long time. He could understand the correctness of these suggestions and finally saw the underlying issues beneath the facade of defeat.

It wasn’t that a particular company had a problem; it was the general environment that needed to change!

But if they were to follow Alfred’s advice, plus the huge expense of the God of War Ares project and the social security program he was pushing, the fiscal pressure would be too great.

Seeing John’s hesitation, Alfred played his trump card:

"The Bretton Woods system has already collapsed. While we still have control over oil pricing, it’s actually not difficult to solve the funding issue.

I can say with certainty that these plans, which are beneficial to industry, are far more appealing than the social security program, and will attract a lot of support. This is a long-term plan, and if you only serve one term, you won’t be able to complete it, so it necessarily requires two terms."

"Hiss..."

This statement unsettled John, and his earlier hesitation slowly faded.

"I don’t have anyone I can trust to handle this; I don’t know if you could..."

"I am quite old now, but I know some young people who are energetic and capable of implementing these things."

John looked at the list prepared by Alfred, and the first name made him frown.

"Jack Sullivan?"

"Yes, don’t let some minor issues prevent openness. I hope you will trust him."

"I will consider it."

Before leaving, Alfred added one last piece:

"According to Bloomberg, a cumulative audience of 13 billion people watched the live broadcasts of the Dawn III and Artemis II missions—an unprecedented and superb propaganda opportunity.

But you gave this opportunity away. The Dawn project won tremendous prestige and took all the efforts including those by the Artemis project, reaping all the achievements.

We can endure such a failure this time, but there cannot be a next time."

After Alfred left, John carefully went through the reports he had left behind. They were the most comprehensive and direct reports he had ever seen, the precision in analyzing problems far superior to that of his own staff.

Actually, many of the solutions proposed were old strategies, not something no one had thought of; it was just a matter of whether they satisfied the interests of more people after being implemented.

Reason told him there was no perfect solution, but the promise of reelection and the current situation being less than favorable were very tempting.