Clear and Present Danger
51 pages • 1-hour read
Tom ClancyClear and Present Danger
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Chapters 8-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of graphic violence and death.
Chapter 8 Summary: “Deployment”
In Colorado, Chavez proves to be a capable leader, impressing CIA operative John Clark, who has joined the team. Clark admits he also does not know the details of their mission. Meanwhile, Daniel Murray advises his supervisors to ignore Red Wegener’s obvious guilt and use his coerced confessions in their prosecution of the men found on board the Empire Builder. Although they know believe the owner of the yacht was working with the drug cartel, Murray knows that the prosecution and likely death sentences for these men will be politically popular.
In Washington, CIA Deputy Director for Operations Robert Ritter and National Security Advisor James Cutter finalize the details for operation SHOWBOAT, in which the all-Latino teams assembled in Colorado will perform covert surveillance of airfields where the cartel is known to transport drugs. Alongside this operation is EAGLE EYE, in which fighter pilots will covertly take down the transports identified by SHOWBOAT. When Chavez and the rest of the teams learn of the plan, they instantly agree, as many have had their lives negatively affected by drugs. The first confirmed kill of EAGLE EYE is made by Jeff Winters, known by the callsign Bronco.
In Colombia, Felix Cortez meets with Ernesto Escobedo and instantly begins thinking of ways to supplant his role in the cartel.
Chapter 9 Summary: “Meeting Engagement”
Escobedo meets with Larson to discuss the recent loss of one of his drug transport planes. Larson privately wonders if the US is beginning a covert operation in Colombia. Despite Felix Cortez’s warnings, Escobedo trusts that Larson is not involved.
The 44 Latino men of operation SHOWBOAT—including Chavez, his close friend Julio Vega, and their captain Ramirez—travel to Panama to begin their mission. They are soon joined by the crew of operation EAGLE EYE, including Air Force Colonel Paul Johns, his long-time friend and fellow pilot Buck Zimmer, and fighter pilot Bronco Winters.
In Mobile, Alabama FBI agent Mark Bright discovers evidence that the owner of the Empire Builder was the head of a vast money-laundering scheme with ties to the Colombian cartel. Meanwhile, attorney Edward Stuart attempts to organize a defense for Jesús Castillo and Ramón Capati, the two men captured on board the yacht.
Bronco Winter intercepts a drug transport and escorts it to a secret base in Florida. The troops on the ground threaten to kill the American pilots and feed them to their resident alligator. They coerce a confession that includes new information about the drug transport.
Chapter 10 Summary: “Dry Feet”
Mark Bright brings evidence that the owner of the Empire Builder was involved in money laundering to FBI Deputy Assistant Director Daniel Murray. Murray urges him to take the files directly to FBI Director Emil Jacobs, who is delighted to be able to seize so much cartel money from American and European banks. They decide to keep the seizures secret until the last possible moment.
In Washington, Felix Cortez meets with Moira Wolfe using the name “Juan Diaz.” After having sex with her, he casually introduces the topic of drugs. Wolfe reveals that the FBI Director is planning to visit Colombia soon to discuss the war on drugs with Colombia’s Attorney General. Cortez’s suspicions are raised when he learns that Jesús Castillo and Ramón Capati will not receive a plea deal.
The troops of operation STEAMBOAT leave Panama for Colombia, chartered by the pilots of EAGLE EYE.
Chapter 11 Summary: “In-Country”
In a meeting with Cortez, Escobedo reveals that he ordered the murder of the American owner of the Empire Builder after learning that he was stealing money from the cartel. Escobedo brushes off Felix’s worries about American federal agents uncovering the money-laundering scheme.
In Colombia, Chavez and the 10 men in his battalion begin the long march to their surveillance positions. The men travel only at night, with Chavez scouting the group’s trail a few miles ahead of them. Chavez successfully delivers the men to their appointed spot, an active airfield. The journey is overseen by CIA Agent John Clark, who is stationed in a communications van in a hidden spot in Panama.
In Washington, Moira learns that her boss, FBI Director Emil Jacobs, is hoping to prove that the cartel was laundering money to a legitimate fund that they hoped to use to rehabilitate their image and the image of Colombia. Meanwhile, Jack Ryan is selected to replace his boss as the CIA’s Deputy Director (Intelligence). Despite this promotion, Ritter insists that he be kept out of Showboat.
Chapter 12 Summary: “The Curtain on SHOWBOAT”
Chavez’s unit, codenamed KNIFE, observes a plane laden with drugs taking off from their airfield, and reports it to Clark, who forwards it to the pilots at EAGLE EYE. The plane is intercepted and the pilots are interrogated by an unnamed CIA officer at the field station in Florida.
In Washington, Cutter and Jacobs meet with the President to discuss the operations in Colombia and the money laundering. Jacobs urges the President to cancel operation SHOWBOAT and focus on legally pursuing the cartel by seizing nearly $600 million in laundered funds. The President rejects his proposal but encourages him to pursue the seizures. The European banks agree to cooperate, and Jacobs considers the operation a success. He announces plans to leave for Colombia the following Friday, and Moira decides to make plans with Juan Diaz.
As the operation continues in Colombia, Bronco begins to grow bored of shooting down planes night after night. He logs five kills.
Chapter 13 Summary: “The Bloody Weekend”
On Wednesday, Moira decides to tell “Juan Diaz” about her boss FBI Director Jacobs’s trip to Colombia on Friday. Cortez immediately passes on this information to Escobedo and makes plans to visit Moira in Washington while Jacobs is gone.
When the President announces the FBI’s seizure of the cartel’s laundered assets, Escobedo urges the other cartel leaders to use Jacobs’s trip as an opportunity to strike back against the United States. Meanwhile, the NSA sets up telecommunications monitoring to spy on the phones of important members of the cartel. They learn of Cortez’s plans to go to Washington but cannot intercept him.
Jacobs arrives in Bogota, Colombia along with the director of the Drug Enforcement Administration. While on the way to the American Embassy with the Ambassador, their car is bombed, killing everyone instantly. Jack Ryan learns of the news from Daniel Murray, and he is surprised to learn that Ritter and Cutter have been called to the President. He wonders why he was not included.
The President, furious at the deaths of Jacobs and the DEA Director, demands immediate revenge. Ritter calls in John Clark to spearhead a new operation, codenamed RECIPROCITY.
Chapters 8-13 Analysis
This section of Clear and Present Danger contains the novel’s rising action, as all of the primary characters begin their individual missions. The chapters reflect an interest in the unique motivations that cause people of disparate backgrounds to enter the same conflict. Many of the troops participating in operations SHOWBOAT and EAGLE EYE are motivated by a personal desire for vengeance against drug dealers in their community, introducing the theme of The Destructive Power of Drugs and the Drug Trade. Chavez’s unit captain, Ramirez, explicitly invokes this motivating factor when pitching the operation, describing it as “a chance to get even” (151) on behalf of “people who got fucked up because of drugs” (150). This idea is repeated a few pages later when ace fighter pilot Jeff “Bronco” Winters reflects that shooting down a cocaine transport plane “suited him, since it was probably a cokehead who’d mugged his mom” (154). These passages suggest that the American troops on the ground in Colombia are motivated by personal grudges against drug dealers in America, rather than a desire to take down the Colombian cartel.
As for the cartel itself, the novel suggests that the primary motivator for the Colombian foot soldiers is poverty. Shortly after landing in Colombia, Chavez recognizes that “there was poverty here” (207) that far exceeded his experiences in Los Angeles. Chavez identifies this poverty as a motivator for those working for, or cooperating with, the cartel, noting that “poor people seized at whatever opportunity presented itself” and that “poor people had poor options.” (207). He demonstrates genuine sympathy for the cartel soldiers, wondering if he might “have ended up running drugs or being a shooter for the cartel bigshots” (207) if his family had not immigrated to the United States. For one of the novel’s protagonists to empathize with the cartel soldiers at this level reflects a belief that poverty is an important motivator for many people cooperating with or working for the cartel.
The novel’s interest in the motivations of these characters is closely tied to its thematic interest in The Abuse of Power in the American Government. The novel depicts the American President’s motivation in pursuing the drug cartel as entirely personal, stemming from his desire for reelection. At the President’s insistence, NSA Advisor James Cutter convinces Ritter to begin operation SHOWBOAT and produce results “before November” (144) to help his reelection campaign. This explicit reference to the election suggests that the President was initially acting in his own interests, hoping to take down the Colombian cartel to improve his ratings, rather than in the interest of safety.
The novel suggests that this abuse of power is possible because of the need-to-know nature of the intelligence community. As the action ramps up in these chapters, characters repeatedly shut down questions about details of their individual missions by deferring to the need-to-know hierarchy. When Clark is questioned by Chavez about their mission, he insists that the details are “not my department” (136). Bronco Winters repeats the phrase in the following chapter, reflecting that the question of the legality of his fighter jet missions “wasn’t his department” (161). Winters rationalizes that “he was only a captain, and captains are operators not thinkers” (161), ultimately concluding that “somebody up the line had decided that this was okay, and that was all he needed to know” (161). In both these instances, the references to strict hierarchy suggest that the need-to-know nature of the intelligence community prevents individual actors from understanding the truth of their missions, making it easier for those higher up the chain to abuse their power undetected.
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