"The world's nuclear powers are in a paranoid downward spiral. Every nation had a chance to take their missiles offline, but no one trusted anyone else to do that. Your State Department is warning you that diplomatic channels are breaking down. Everyone who still has control of their arsenals is considering a first strike, just like you are. The intelligence community knows that the Entity is learning as it goes. It's getting smarter, it's getting stronger. They know that we have only 72 hours before every other nuclear arsenal on Earth is under the Entity's control. Three days before it focuses the full force of its energy on the toughest, most secure defense system on the planet: ours, at which point, the Defense Department will have no choice but to insist that you open that case, enter the codes, and launch an all-out preemptive strike on the world's eight other nuclear arsenals before the Entity takes control of ours. Madam President, either you destroy the world or the Entity does. In any case, it is checkmate."