Commander in Chief (2015)

Commander in Chief (stylized as Tom Clancy Commander in Chief, Tom Clancy: Commander in Chief, or Tom Clancy’s Commander-in-Chief in the United Kingdom) is a political thriller novel, written by Mark Greaney and released on December 1, 2015. It is Greaney’s third solo entry in the Ryanverse, featuring characters created by Tom Clancy.

In the novel, President Jack Ryan and The Campus must stop Russian president Valeri Volodin from launching a covert violent offensive in an effort to bring back Russia as a superpower. The book debuted at number two on the New York Times bestseller list.

Plot

In Russia, the silovik, a group of military & intelligence officers and businessmen who basically control the country’s affairs, are concerned about the country’s economic decline. President Valeri Volodin brings up a plan of covert armed conflict within Europe that will ensure the restoration of Russia’s status as a superpower, while at the same time revamping its economy and benefiting the siloviki as a result. Privately however, Volodin tasks a financial expert, Andrei Limonov, with securing his assets worldwide in case his plan does not work.

Weeks later, a string of attacks plague most of Eastern Europe. A Lithuanian LNG tanker, the Independence, gets attacked by an eco-terrorist group. A Russian military train transporting men and materiel to Kaliningrad Oblast gets attacked by a Polish terrorist group, which gives Volodin an excuse to increase military presence in the region. Russian submarines begin attacking the Lithuanian Navy, and had torpedoed another oil tanker bound for Estonia. U.S. President Jack Ryan immediately notices a pattern in the recent attacks and the corresponding increase in Russia’s oil profit. He tries to recruit the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)’s help, but they decline, fearing the consequences of an all-out war. Frustrated, he later deploys the U.S. Navy to dispatch its Russian counterpart.

Meanwhile, Jack Ryan, Jr. is in Rome, Italy, investigating Russia’s money networks as well as spending time with his Iranian girlfriend Ysabel Kashani. He finds out about Limonov and moves to Luxembourg to follow up on his investigation, despite being followed by a paparazzo named Salvatore. Unbeknownst to him, the paparazzo had implanted a tracking device on Kashani's belongings, and the Iranian is later attacked by a group of men led by Russian hitman Yegor Morozov; they are dispatched by Jack in the resulting altercation. Ysabel is later hospitalized.

Domingo “Ding” Chavez and Dominic “Dom” Caruso are tasked by Director of National Intelligence Mary Pat Foley to photograph specific locations along the Belarusian border. While there, they are asked to escort Pete Branyon, a local CIA station chief in Lithuania, to a meeting with some of his assets. During the meeting, Branyon gets kidnapped; Chavez and Caruso give chase and later rescue him. With help from Lithuanian intelligence director Linus Sabonis, they find out the identity of Branyon’s kidnappers as Serbs who posed as the Polish group that attacked the Russian train in Kaliningrad Oblast.

Distraught about what happened to his girlfriend, Jack returns to the US and goes on his investigation into Limonov; he finds out that he is in the British Virgin Islands to meet with Terry Walker, inventor of the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange, to propose moving eight billion dollars for his client (implied to be Volodin) in and out of Bitcoin with a large commission. Campus operative John Clark is tasked with turning Walker, but finds out that Walker has been coerced into working with the Russians by kidnapping his wife and son, because he had turned down Limonov’s deal due to concern that the deal would draw too much attention to himself. Clark tries to save Walker’s family, but is ambushed by a group of men working for Kozlov, Limonov’s personal bodyguard. Clark was later rescued by Adara Sherman. Together, they rescue Walker and his family and capture Limonov, who later reveals Volodin’s frantic plan to move his assets.

Against orders, Jack tracks down Salvatore to Brussels, Belgium (at the Stanhope hotel by Thon Hotels). Chavez and Caruso are redirected there to assist him. They find out that Salvatore is part of an eco-terrorist group that are preparing to attack a nearby oil and gas conference. They later dispatch the attackers, and find out that they are also responsible for the attack on the Independence. Meanwhile, a naval battle in the Baltic Sea results in victory for the U.S. and Polish navies over the Russian submarines, and the Russian advance into Lithuania is averted by the Swedish Air Force, who aid U.S. marines that are being pushed back by the Russian forces.

His diabolical plan in shambles, Volodin is later assassinated by the silovik. Jack gets suspended from The Campus for not reporting Salvatore sooner and for not following orders.

Characters

United States government

Jack Ryan: President of the United States

Scott Adler: Secretary of state

Mary Pat Foley: Director of national intelligence

Robert "Bob" Burgess: Secretary of defense

Jay Canfield: Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

Dan Murray: Attorney general

Arnold van Damm: President Ryan's chief of staff

Peter Branyon: CIA chief of station, Vilnius, Lithuania

Greg Donlin: CIA security officer

United States military

Roland Hazelton: Admiral, chief of naval operations, United States Navy

Scott Hagen: Commander, captain of the USS James Greer (DDG-102), United States Navy

Phil Kincaid: Lieutenant commander, executive officer of USS James Greer (DDG-102), United States Navy

Damon Hart: Lieutenant, weapons officer on USS James Greer (DDG-102), United States Navy

Richard "Rich" Belanger: Lieutenant colonel, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, United States Marine Corps; battalion commander of the Black Sea Rotational Force

The Campus

Gerry Hendley: Director, The Campus/Hendley Associates

John Clark: Director of operations

Domingo "Ding" Chavez: Senior operations officer

Dominic "Dom" Caruso: Operations officer