The Sum of All Fears
Encyclopedia
The Sum of All Fears is the best-selling thriller novel by Dan Fogelman
and Tom Clancy
, and part of the Jack Ryan series. It was the fourth book of the series to be turned into a film
. An interesting historical note is that this book was released just days before the Moscow uprising
in 1991, which finally signaled the dissolution of the Soviet Union
. Russian politics in the aftermath of the destruction of the Berlin Wall
is a main element of the book.
The book begins with two epigraph
s:
First a quotation from Winston Churchill
:
followed by a quote from Herman Kahn's On Thermonuclear War, describing the Field of Camlan, a peace parley that turned into a battlefield:
The Prologue occurs in 1973, during the Yom Kippur War
: at its height the Israel
is opt for a tactical nuclear strike, but this decision is changed at the last minute. Unfortunately, one Mark 12
nuclear weapon is not removed from an Israeli attack aircraft—piloted by young Motti Zadin. (The bomb is incomplete: the "physics package" is there; but the electronic detonator is missing.) That aircraft is shot down and crashes into mountains in Syria
, and the nuclear weapon is lost (an empty quiver
). The bomb buries itself in the field of a Druze
farmer.
The plot then moves to 1991. The Palestinians start using non-violent protests and one of the unarmed protesters is killed by Israeli police official Benny Zadin, the brother of Motti Zadin. The U.S finds that they can no longer support Israel at the UN or politically against its Arab neighbor nations. However, the U.S.
also cannot leave Israel without support since doing so would risk destabilizing the region. A clever plan to accelerate the peace process is put into action, based on Jack Ryan's
indirect contact with the Vatican and with support from the Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia. To everyone's surprise, it seems to work. However, the venal National Security Advisor
, Dr. Elizabeth Elliott, hates Ryan (since Clear and Present Danger
) and makes sure he does not get credit for crafting the "Vatican Treaty"; the fact that she has begun a romance with the widowed President Fowler makes this plan more achievable. She later launches a smear campaign that makes it seem like Ryan is having an affair with a woman whose husband had died in Clear and Present Danger
and almost costs him his marriage before John Clark
and Domingo Chavez
reveal the truth to Ryan's wife. Ryan is later told he has to resign, but not before he puts together a covert operation involving the uncovering of a deal between corrupt Japanese and Mexican officials, giving backstory to the next book, Debt of Honor
.
A small group of Palestinian terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
are not pleased, though. With peace looming around the corner and the state of Israel still in existence, they are looking at a failure in their campaign. Their anger is directed towards the U.S., which has supported Israel throughout the years and is now instrumental in creating a lasting peace that makes it impossible to eradicate the Jewish state.
When the terrorists come across the lost Israeli bomb, they manage to recover it and construct their own version, using the plutonium
as fissile material. They also enlist the help of a disenfranchised East German physicist named Manfred Fromm. Fromm, an expert on nuclear technology, agrees to help the terrorists because their plan is designed to exact revenge on those responsible for the downfall of East Germany and the unification of his country into a capitalist, democratic state. With Fromm's expertise, the group is able to enhance the weapon and turn it into a thermonuclear device. The terrorists decide to use the weapon at the Super Bowl
in Denver, Colorado
, while also planning a false flag
attack on U.S. forces in Berlin
by East Germans disguised as Soviet soldiers. The terrorists' goal is to start a nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This will accomplish two things. First, it will eliminate the American ability to support Israel, and second, it will eliminate those two nations as the superpowers, thus punishing them for bringing an end to the Cold War
and betraying World Socialism, which is a driving motivator for the East German characters in the book, who are led by a bitter Red Army Faction
terrorist named Günther Bock. Incidentally, the Arab conspirators kill their various associates as soon as they are no longer needed.
The device, however, does not detonate fully or properly, due to an assembly error (in their haste and arrogance, the terrorists kill the project's chief engineer before he can properly add the tritium
needed to make the device a fusion bomb, mistakenly believing that they can take over from there), It is an enhanced-fission explosion, but not a fusion explosion, as analysis of the fallout confirms: analysts deem it a fizzle
and trace the plutonium to the Savannah River fast-breeder reactor. Nevertheless, the Secretary of Defense
and the Secretary of State
are both killed, as well as thousands of fans in attendance and thousands more residents of the Denver area, due to the primary and secondary effects of the fission detonation. Through a series of coincidences, misunderstandings, and the attack on American forces in Berlin, the plan is almost a success, and for a brief moment the U.S. assumes DEFCON
-1 as both President Fowler and National Security Advisor
Elizabeth Elliott have lost control and are ready to begin a nuclear war. The crisis is averted when Jack Ryan, after receiving evidence that the bomb's plutonium had originated in the U.S., gains access to the Hot Line and manages to defuse the situation by communicating directly with the Soviet president and suggesting a phased stand-down of strategic forces and an end to the fighting in Berlin
.
The terrorists devise a backup plan in the event of failure. When this happens and they are captured by John Clark in Mexico City, they put it to work by implicating the Iran
ian Ayatollah
Mahmoud Hajj Daryaei as responsible for the attack. The American President, Bob Fowler, is enraged and, because the Ayatollah is known to reside in the holy city of Qom
, orders the city destroyed by a nuclear attack. After Ryan averts the attack by enforcing the two-man rule
, the terrorists reveal the ruse (under torture by John Clark, who breaks all their fingers). They also reveal the ruse's purpose: to discredit and shame the U.S. in the eyes of the world, as the attack would make the U.S. an enemy of Islam for all time. This would destroy the delicate peace process, allowing the campaign against Israel to continue. The plan can be seen as employing the commonly used terrorist tactic called agent provocateur
, the inciting agent. President Fowler resigns from office after suffering a breakdown.
The book ends with the terrorists' beheading
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by the Saudi special-forces commander, using an ancient sword held by the Saudi royal family, which is then presented to Jack Ryan. The sword is meant to honor all who had died, but it also serves to remind Ryan of all who had not died because of his actions. It is later revealed in the sequels that the gift, along with his background as a marine, inspires Jack Ryan's Secret Service codename "Swordsman."
Dan Fogelman
Dan Fogelman a River Vale, New Jersey native is a American screenwriter, producer, novelist and actor. He is best known for the writing of screenplay for the Disney animated movie Tangled and the Pixar movie Cars....
and Tom Clancy
Tom Clancy
Thomas Leo "Tom" Clancy, Jr. is an American author, best known for his technically detailed espionage, military science, and techno thriller storylines set during and in the aftermath of the Cold War, along with video games on which he did not work, but which bear his name for licensing and...
, and part of the Jack Ryan series. It was the fourth book of the series to be turned into a film
The Sum of All Fears (film)
The Sum of All Fears is a 2002 American action film/political thriller directed by Phil Alden Robinson and based on the novel The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy...
. An interesting historical note is that this book was released just days before the Moscow uprising
Soviet coup attempt of 1991
The 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt , also known as the August Putsch or August Coup , was an attempt by a group of members of the Soviet Union's government to take control of the country from Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev...
in 1991, which finally signaled the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Russian politics in the aftermath of the destruction of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on 13 August 1961, that completely cut off West Berlin from surrounding East Germany and from East Berlin...
is a main element of the book.
Plot summary
The title is reference to the one thing all major Governments have feared during the Cold War, Nuclear War. It's also a reference to the components of the bomb the antagonists of the novel make and their final product.The book begins with two epigraph
Epigraph (literature)
In literature, an epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component. The epigraph may serve as a preface, as a summary, as a counter-example, or to link the work to a wider literary canon, either to invite comparison or to enlist a conventional...
s:
First a quotation from Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
:
followed by a quote from Herman Kahn's On Thermonuclear War, describing the Field of Camlan, a peace parley that turned into a battlefield:
The Prologue occurs in 1973, during the Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
: at its height the Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
is opt for a tactical nuclear strike, but this decision is changed at the last minute. Unfortunately, one Mark 12
Mark 12 nuclear bomb
The Mark-12 nuclear bomb was a US designed and manufactured lightweight nuclear bomb which was built starting in 1954 and saw service from then until 1962...
nuclear weapon is not removed from an Israeli attack aircraft—piloted by young Motti Zadin. (The bomb is incomplete: the "physics package" is there; but the electronic detonator is missing.) That aircraft is shot down and crashes into mountains in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, and the nuclear weapon is lost (an empty quiver
United States military nuclear incident terminology
The United States Armed Forces uses a number of terms to define the magnitude and extent of nuclear incidents.-Origin:United States Department of Defense directive 5230.16, Nuclear Accident and Incident Public Affairs Guidance, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Manual 3150.03B Joint Reporting...
). The bomb buries itself in the field of a Druze
Druze
The Druze are an esoteric, monotheistic religious community, found primarily in Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, which emerged during the 11th century from Ismailism. The Druze have an eclectic set of beliefs that incorporate several elements from Abrahamic religions, Gnosticism, Neoplatonism...
farmer.
The plot then moves to 1991. The Palestinians start using non-violent protests and one of the unarmed protesters is killed by Israeli police official Benny Zadin, the brother of Motti Zadin. The U.S finds that they can no longer support Israel at the UN or politically against its Arab neighbor nations. However, the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
also cannot leave Israel without support since doing so would risk destabilizing the region. A clever plan to accelerate the peace process is put into action, based on Jack Ryan's
Jack Ryan (Tom Clancy)
John Patrick "Jack" Ryan, Sr. is a fictional character created by Tom Clancy who appears in many of his novels.-Backstory:Born in 1950, Ryan's background is established in Patriot Games and Red Rabbit. His father was Emmet William Ryan , a police homicide lieutenant in Baltimore, and World War II...
indirect contact with the Vatican and with support from the Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia. To everyone's surprise, it seems to work. However, the venal National Security Advisor
National Security Advisor (United States)
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor , serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues...
, Dr. Elizabeth Elliott, hates Ryan (since Clear and Present Danger
Clear and Present Danger
Clear and Present Danger is a novel by Tom Clancy, written in 1989, and is a canonical part of the Jack Ryan universe. In the novel, Jack Ryan is thrown into the position of CIA Acting Deputy Director and discovers that he is being kept in the dark by his colleagues who are conducting a covert war...
) and makes sure he does not get credit for crafting the "Vatican Treaty"; the fact that she has begun a romance with the widowed President Fowler makes this plan more achievable. She later launches a smear campaign that makes it seem like Ryan is having an affair with a woman whose husband had died in Clear and Present Danger
Clear and Present Danger
Clear and Present Danger is a novel by Tom Clancy, written in 1989, and is a canonical part of the Jack Ryan universe. In the novel, Jack Ryan is thrown into the position of CIA Acting Deputy Director and discovers that he is being kept in the dark by his colleagues who are conducting a covert war...
and almost costs him his marriage before John Clark
John Clark (Tom Clancy character)
John Clark is a fictional character created by Tom Clancy who appears in many of Clancy's novels. He is an Irish American Catholic.-Personal life:...
and Domingo Chavez
Domingo Chavez
Domingo "Ding" Chavez is a fictional character described as a "passionate Latino" by American author Tom Clancy and appearing in many of his novels and video games.-History:...
reveal the truth to Ryan's wife. Ryan is later told he has to resign, but not before he puts together a covert operation involving the uncovering of a deal between corrupt Japanese and Mexican officials, giving backstory to the next book, Debt of Honor
Debt of Honor
Debt of Honor is a novel by Tom Clancy. It is a continuation of the series featuring his character Jack Ryan. In this installment, Ryan has become the National Security Advisor when the Japanese government goes to war with the United States...
.
A small group of Palestinian terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine is a Palestinian Marxist-Leninist organisation founded in 1967. It has consistently been the second-largest of the groups forming the Palestine Liberation Organization , the largest being Fatah...
are not pleased, though. With peace looming around the corner and the state of Israel still in existence, they are looking at a failure in their campaign. Their anger is directed towards the U.S., which has supported Israel throughout the years and is now instrumental in creating a lasting peace that makes it impossible to eradicate the Jewish state.
When the terrorists come across the lost Israeli bomb, they manage to recover it and construct their own version, using the plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...
as fissile material. They also enlist the help of a disenfranchised East German physicist named Manfred Fromm. Fromm, an expert on nuclear technology, agrees to help the terrorists because their plan is designed to exact revenge on those responsible for the downfall of East Germany and the unification of his country into a capitalist, democratic state. With Fromm's expertise, the group is able to enhance the weapon and turn it into a thermonuclear device. The terrorists decide to use the weapon at the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, while also planning a false flag
False flag
False flag operations are covert operations designed to deceive the public in such a way that the operations appear as though they are being carried out by other entities. The name is derived from the military concept of flying false colors; that is flying the flag of a country other than one's own...
attack on U.S. forces in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
by East Germans disguised as Soviet soldiers. The terrorists' goal is to start a nuclear war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This will accomplish two things. First, it will eliminate the American ability to support Israel, and second, it will eliminate those two nations as the superpowers, thus punishing them for bringing an end to the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
and betraying World Socialism, which is a driving motivator for the East German characters in the book, who are led by a bitter Red Army Faction
Red Army Faction
The radicalized were, like many in the New Left, influenced by:* Sociological developments, pressure within the educational system in and outside Europe and the U.S...
terrorist named Günther Bock. Incidentally, the Arab conspirators kill their various associates as soon as they are no longer needed.
The device, however, does not detonate fully or properly, due to an assembly error (in their haste and arrogance, the terrorists kill the project's chief engineer before he can properly add the tritium
Tritium
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. The nucleus of tritium contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus of protium contains one proton and no neutrons...
needed to make the device a fusion bomb, mistakenly believing that they can take over from there), It is an enhanced-fission explosion, but not a fusion explosion, as analysis of the fallout confirms: analysts deem it a fizzle
Fizzle (nuclear test)
In nuclear weapons, a fizzle occurs when the testing of a nuclear bomb fails to meet its expected yield. The reason for the failure can be linked to improper bomb design, poor construction, or lack of expertise. All countries that have had a nuclear weapons testing program have experienced fizzles...
and trace the plutonium to the Savannah River fast-breeder reactor. Nevertheless, the Secretary of Defense
United States Secretary of Defense
The Secretary of Defense is the head and chief executive officer of the Department of Defense of the United States of America. This position corresponds to what is generally known as a Defense Minister in other countries...
and the Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...
are both killed, as well as thousands of fans in attendance and thousands more residents of the Denver area, due to the primary and secondary effects of the fission detonation. Through a series of coincidences, misunderstandings, and the attack on American forces in Berlin, the plan is almost a success, and for a brief moment the U.S. assumes DEFCON
DEFCON
A defense readiness condition is an alert posture used by the United States Armed Forces. The DEFCON system was developed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and unified and specified combatant commands. It prescribes five graduated levels of readiness for the U.S...
-1 as both President Fowler and National Security Advisor
National Security Advisor (United States)
The Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, commonly referred to as the National Security Advisor , serves as the chief advisor to the President of the United States on national security issues...
Elizabeth Elliott have lost control and are ready to begin a nuclear war. The crisis is averted when Jack Ryan, after receiving evidence that the bomb's plutonium had originated in the U.S., gains access to the Hot Line and manages to defuse the situation by communicating directly with the Soviet president and suggesting a phased stand-down of strategic forces and an end to the fighting in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
.
The terrorists devise a backup plan in the event of failure. When this happens and they are captured by John Clark in Mexico City, they put it to work by implicating the Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian Ayatollah
Ayatollah
Ayatollah is a high ranking title given to Usuli Twelver Shī‘ah clerics. Those who carry the title are experts in Islamic studies such as jurisprudence, ethics, and philosophy and usually teach in Islamic seminaries. The next lower clerical rank is Hojatoleslam wal-muslemin...
Mahmoud Hajj Daryaei as responsible for the attack. The American President, Bob Fowler, is enraged and, because the Ayatollah is known to reside in the holy city of Qom
Qom
Qom is a city in Iran. It lies by road southwest of Tehran and is the capital of Qom Province. At the 2006 census, its population was 957,496, in 241,827 families. It is situated on the banks of the Qom River....
, orders the city destroyed by a nuclear attack. After Ryan averts the attack by enforcing the two-man rule
Two-man rule
The two-man rule is a control mechanism designed to achieve a high level of security for especially critical material or operations. Under this rule all access and actions requires the presence of two authorized people at all times.-Nuclear weapons:...
, the terrorists reveal the ruse (under torture by John Clark, who breaks all their fingers). They also reveal the ruse's purpose: to discredit and shame the U.S. in the eyes of the world, as the attack would make the U.S. an enemy of Islam for all time. This would destroy the delicate peace process, allowing the campaign against Israel to continue. The plan can be seen as employing the commonly used terrorist tactic called agent provocateur
Agent provocateur
Traditionally, an agent provocateur is a person employed by the police or other entity to act undercover to entice or provoke another person to commit an illegal act...
, the inciting agent. President Fowler resigns from office after suffering a breakdown.
The book ends with the terrorists' beheading
Decapitation
Decapitation is the separation of the head from the body. Beheading typically refers to the act of intentional decapitation, e.g., as a means of murder or execution; it may be accomplished, for example, with an axe, sword, knife, wire, or by other more sophisticated means such as a guillotine...
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by the Saudi special-forces commander, using an ancient sword held by the Saudi royal family, which is then presented to Jack Ryan. The sword is meant to honor all who had died, but it also serves to remind Ryan of all who had not died because of his actions. It is later revealed in the sequels that the gift, along with his background as a marine, inspires Jack Ryan's Secret Service codename "Swordsman."
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
- The Sum of All Fears (film)The Sum of All Fears (film)The Sum of All Fears is a 2002 American action film/political thriller directed by Phil Alden Robinson and based on the novel The Sum of All Fears by Tom Clancy...
- The Sum of All Fears (video game)