I have never liked working on the holidays.

Yet the call came from Rumsfeld at 0413 hours to help orchestrate a team to escort Powell's in his imminent departure to Pakistan to help avert a nuclear exchange of 'New Year's gifts'.

My laptop is heating up, warming my lap as the cold air sweeps down across the vast painted desert.

The howl of the winds rises and lowers in pitch with the raising and ebbing currents.

A hot mug of chocolate keeps my hand toasty.

I hastily read a forwarded recent CIA distributed refresher course on the Hindu caste system.

Hundreds of castes, all determined by birth, yet four divisions sum them up. The Brahmins are top dogs and are priest-intellectuals. Kshatriyas are warrior-nobles. Vaishyas are businessmen. The sum of these three comprise 1/6 of India's population.

The shudras are the peasants and workers. These 'backwards caste' folks comprise almost 1/2 of the population.

The last is the 'Scheduled Castes' which include the former 'Untouchables'. These amount to a little over 1/5 of India's populace.

The rest are foreigners or other non-Hindus. I click and minimize the report and punch up a file of available agents.

The news media will report his trip in a day or two...but for now they are quiet.

The parliament massacre in India has set the stage for this new year nightmare and because the Pakistani nuclear arsenal was not successfully secured by US interests - the folks at the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists will soon move their armageddon clock to read one minute till midnight.

No eggnog for me. No trips to relatives or warm hugs...just the obligatory phonecalls and brief chit-chat.

Powell wanted me to arrange his escort, and Rumsfeld made clear that he helm me personally responsible for his security.

Few folks think about how jeopardized our leaders are in our own country, much less when visiting foreign states.

While India and Pakistan were not Columbia - a security detail in these nations, and at this time, requires excessive failsafes and backup contingencies.

One can't even announce one's intentions to their governments ahead of time because their governments are not secure from internal treachery and plants of revolutionary elements.

So Powell's presence will be made known when his flight is landing and no sooner.

Powell's a good man and his security is of paramount concern. Fighter escorts while in the air are easy - but the logistics of preparing ground security in these Nations is much more difficult.

Traveling around in an armored limousine is akin to putting a big cross-hairs on the Secretary.

No these missions require extraordinary stealth.

So I look at the roster of armored vehicles. Most folks are unaware the US maintains a diverse fleet of Armored vehicles from Kias to Honda Accords.

One must know what the ground traffic in these regions largely consists of. The closer a match you can make in one's selection of vehicles - the safer your folks are.

The ultimate convoy looks like a regular flow of traffic. and can blend in with no fanfare or undue attention.

In Islamabad - modern traffic looks twenty to twentyfive years older than modern traffic in the US. Volkswagens, cheap japanese export models are the norm. Buses and little cars which look like glorified golf carts can be found in abundance.

Much the same is true in Delhi.

So in this instance a good convoy would consist of aged looking 'Datsuns', a circa 1970 european made bus and a Volkswagen. Par for the course is Perhaps running a decoy convoy of tinted window sport utility vehicles to another locale.

Yes, the US keeps these eclectic vehicles in stock and they are every bit as secure as their Mercedes and BMW counterparts our Russian and Middle-eastern leaders choose for their own transportation.

So I schedule a C-130 to land one hour ahead of the SOS and prepare a bill of goods worth more Rupees and Pakistani Rupees than the Gross Product of their Capitals in a year.

Yes an armored Herbie the Love Bug is suitable transport for our illustrious Mr. Powell.

Sleigh Bells ringing...are you listening.

The tensions are high and the stakes are even higher. This mission must be successful.

Any nuclear exchange is wholly unacceptable to the US and would isolate these nations into a vacuum.

Silent night...

The tough part is that some of these leaders would actually love to wipe out many of their burdgeoning masses in a limited nuclear exchange (since their arsenals are indeed very limited) they know that this would not noticeably change the level of suffering in these nations or make them that much more primitive.

Frosty the snow man...

Peace on Earth and goodwill to mankind,

Yeah right.

There is peace on earth. But never complete peace.

There is goodwill to mankind - but never total goodwill.

Realism is just a bit more challenging than idealism.

Infinitely warm wishes to all here,

SDAI-Tech1