MacCaulay
Banned
There was a book put out in the 90s called Balance of Power that I actually thought was one of the best written technothrillers I've ever read.
The basic plot is that several crewmen are taken hostage on a US flagged ship and put on an island in Indonesia by the pirates. The president (a sort-of Bill Clinton) is in favour of working behind the scenes and allowing the Indonesians to launch the rescue mission. But an opportunistic Speaker of the House with his eye on the White House (read: Newt Gingrich) wants to have US forces do it.
So basically the story revolves around how the Speaker more-or-less gets his legal attache to wrangle the legal machinery to let Congress (which is controlled by his Party) issue a letter of marque to a carrier group with the stated mission to go on the rescue mission, basically bypassing the Executive Branch.
It's a very interesting idea.
The basic plot is that several crewmen are taken hostage on a US flagged ship and put on an island in Indonesia by the pirates. The president (a sort-of Bill Clinton) is in favour of working behind the scenes and allowing the Indonesians to launch the rescue mission. But an opportunistic Speaker of the House with his eye on the White House (read: Newt Gingrich) wants to have US forces do it.
So basically the story revolves around how the Speaker more-or-less gets his legal attache to wrangle the legal machinery to let Congress (which is controlled by his Party) issue a letter of marque to a carrier group with the stated mission to go on the rescue mission, basically bypassing the Executive Branch.
It's a very interesting idea.