Executive Orders



The second part of the Myth Arc started in Debt of Honor.

After a kamikaze strike on the Capitol Building by a deranged Japanese airline pilot, Jack Ryan becomes President of the United States of America.

Unfortunately, the entire previous government more or less perished while he survived, so he faces the task of not only being President, but trying to reconstruct the government to its former glory.

But it will not be easy. Enemies, both foreign and domestic are seeking to destroy him, with former Vice President Edward Kealty trying to unseat Ryan so he can President, aided by media pundits and former enemies Jack made in CIA aiding and abetting Kealty. On the foreign front, China continues to have imperial ambitions, India still has the same, and they've joined forces with Iran, which seeks to start a world war for power while attempting to further cripple the weakened United States.


 * Anonymous Ringer: Saddam Hussein is never mentioned as being anything other than "The President of Iraq", but he's the guy who is clearly assassinated not too far into the book. He is later referred to by his actual name by American military personnel discussing the Gulf War, but Clancy otherwise went out of his way to avoid identifying the killed Iraqi president by name.
 * Asshole Victim: The fact Hussein was murdered doesn't really make anyone on either side feel any regret.
 * The unnamed Premier of Turkmenistan is regarded as such by pro-Daryaei conspirators, who arrange to off him so a Daryeai friendly politician can step into his place.
 * The prisoners killed by the scientists working on Daryaei's bio-weapon plan are considered as such, given all of them are condemned criminals anyway.
 * Badass
 * Badass Bureaucrat: Ryan himself by virtue of being President, and while he doesn't physically attack anyone, he establishes the Ryan Doctrine at the end of the book which boils down to "If you decide to mess with America, I WILL put a smart bomb through your window"
 * Bodyguard Betrayal: Daryaei loves this trope, using it to great effect to get Hussein killed. He tries again with Jack Ryan using USSS agent Aref Ramam, but his cover is discovered shortly before he can pull it off and his attempt to kill Ryan backfires.
 * Raman himself lampshades it probably wasn't the best idea for his real boss to use the same trick twice because America and the Middle East were worlds apart politically and the same trick would not be as ideal given the differences in the Middle Eastern and American political scene..
 * Devil In Plain Sight: NO ONE trusts Daryaei. Even his own allies know their alliance is temporary at best and everyone knows his real ambitions despite what he tells the world.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Raman is a sleeper assassin who will happily do Daryaei's bidding, but even he was sickened and disturbed by the attack on Ryan's youngest child, to the point he nearly blew his own cover trying to console Jack Ryan when it happened.
 * Dr. Moudi is quite disturbed by the fact he helped two women of virtue die in his attempt to culture an airborne strain of Ebola as a bioweapon. His lingering morality isn't strong enough to actually make him cease doing so, but he does have one brief moment where he defies his superior on the project because he couldn't bear to see her endure anymore pain.
 * The Mountain Men are quite against the possibility of hurting children, even though they have no qualms killing adults.
 * Unreliable Narrator: Daryaei gets a lot of internal monologue in which he clearly keeps telling himself he doing everything he does in the name of Allah while he publicly tries to put on a facade of seeking peace despite his anger filled past. It's clear he believes his own self delusion, but everyone else, both enemies and his own supporters, realize he's just a power hungry killer rationalizing everything as being done in the name of Allah, even though he betrays every principle of his faith that he finds convenient to do so in pursuit of his goals.
 * The Virus: Daryaei has a plan to weaponize an airborne strain of Ebola as a bio weapon to cripple the United States and potentially other enemies.