View source for Debt of Honor

{{Short description|1994 thriller novel by Tom Clancy}}
{{For|the 1936 film|Debt of Honour}}
{{use mdy dates |date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox book
| italic title   = <!--(see above)-->
| name           = Debt of Honor
| image          = DebtOfHonor.jpg
| image_size     = 
| alt            = 
| caption        = First edition cover
| author         = [[Tom Clancy]]
| audio_read_by  = 
| title_orig     = 
| orig_lang_code = 
| title_working  = 
| translator     = 
| illustrator    = 
| cover_artist   =
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| series         = Jack Ryan
| release_number = 6
| subject        = 
| genre          = {{flatlist|
* [[Techno-thriller]]
* [[Military fiction]]
* [[Political thriller]]
* [[Crime fiction]]
* [[Realistic fiction]]
}}
| set_in         = 
| publisher      = [[G.P. Putnam's Sons]]
| publisher2     = 
| pub_date       = August 17, 1994
| english_pub_date = 
| published      = 
| media_type     = Print ([[Hardcover]], [[Paperback]])
| pages          = 766
| awards         = 
| isbn           = 0399139540
| isbn_note      = 
| oclc           = 
| dewey          = 
| congress       = 
| preceded_by    = [[The Sum of All Fears]]
| followed_by    = [[Executive Orders]]
| native_wikisource = 
| wikisource     = 
| notes          =
| exclude_cover  = 
| website        =
}}

'''''Debt of Honor''''' is a [[techno-thriller]] novel, written by [[Tom Clancy]] and released on August 17, 1994. A direct sequel to ''[[The Sum of All Fears]]'' (1991), [[Jack Ryan (character)|Jack Ryan]] becomes the [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]] when a secret cabal of Japanese industrialists seize control of their country's government and wage war on the United States. The book debuted at number one on [[The New York Times bestseller list|''The New York Times'' bestseller list]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The New York Times bestseller list for September 4, 1994 |url=http://www.hawes.com/1994/1994-09-04.pdf |access-date=25 August 2018}}</ref> The novel was later noted as containing plot elements which were similar to the circumstances of the [[September 11 attacks|September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks]] and the hijacking of [[United Airlines Flight 93]].

==Plot==
Japanese industrialist Raizo Yamata has been plotting to bring back his country to a position of greatness for years, partly as revenge for the death of his family at the hands of American forces [[Battle of Saipan|invading]] the island of [[Saipan]] during [[World War II]]. His opportunity comes when a car accident in [[East Tennessee]], caused by gas tanks made in Japan which were corroded after improper omission of [[galvanization]] and exposure to seawater during shipping, results in the deaths of six Americans in a [[multi-vehicle collision]]. The incident leads to the swift passage of a law allowing the U.S. to mirror trade practices of the countries from which it imports goods, cutting off the American export markets upon which the Japanese economy depends. Facing an economic crisis, Japan's ruling [[zaibatsu]], led by Yamata, decides to take economic and military action against the United States. Along with covert support from [[China]] and [[India]], they plot to curtail the U.S. presence in the Pacific and re-establish the [[Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere]]. After the [[Prime Minister of Japan|Japanese Prime Minister]] Mogataru Koga resigns in disgrace due to the economic situation, the zaibatsu installs Hiroshi Goto, an aggressive nationalist and critic of the U.S., to succeed him. Meanwhile, Japan has covertly developed nuclear weapons, and with [[UR-100N|SS-19]] designs bought from the former Soviet Union, has fabricated and deployed several [[Intercontinental ballistic missile|ICBMs]].

Japan launches the first phase of its assault, sending [[Japan Self-Defense Forces|Self-Defense Force]] units to occupy the [[Mariana Islands]], specifically Saipan and [[Guam]], without casualties. Also, during a joint military exercise, Japanese ships "accidentally" launch torpedoes at the [[United States Pacific Fleet|U.S. Pacific Fleet]], destroying two submarines and crippling two aircraft carriers. An immediate retaliation is forestalled by the second phase of the Japanese offensive: an [[Economic warfare|economic attack]], where Japan engineers the collapse of the U.S. [[stock market]] by hiring a programmer who is a consultant for an exchange firm to insert a [[logic bomb]] into the system, which when triggered blocks the storage of all trade records made after noon on Friday. They also assassinate the President of the [[Federal Reserve Bank]]. The Japanese government then immediately [[suing for peace|sue for peace]], offering international talks and seemingly free elections in the Marianas to delay a U.S. response.

Meanwhile, [[Jack Ryan (character)|Jack Ryan]] is pulled out of retirement from government service by U.S. President Roger Durling, who appoints him as [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]]. Despite his typical focus on military issues, he advises the president to deal with the economic crisis first, realizing that Japan's deletion of trade records could be an advantage in responding to the economic threat. He engineers a "do-over", where all of the transactions that were deleted on the day of the mass deletion are ignored and all trade information is restored to its condition at noon of that day. The U.S. stock market is successfully restored with only minor disruption, and a group of U.S. [[Investment banking|investment banks]] start a massive economic unloading of Japanese investment products, effectively eliminating any gains made by the zaibatsu.

The United States military then proceeds to launch a counterattack on their Japanese counterparts using whatever resources they have. In a staged accident, [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]] operatives [[John Clark (Tom Clancy character)|John Clark]] and Domingo Chavez blind two incoming Japanese [[Boeing E-767|E-767]] pilots with a [[Dazzler (weapon)|Dazzler]] that causes them to crash upon landing. The [[United States Air Force|U.S. Air Force]] then proceeds to eliminate the rest of Japan's [[Airborne early warning and control|AWACS]] system through low-profile military attacks using widely dispersed U.S. assets, allowing [[Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit|B-2]] bombers to destroy the hidden ICBM silos. They later use an attack by stealthy [[Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor|F-22]] fighters to further damage Japan's air defenses. An [[Special Forces (United States Army)|Army special operations]] team is airdropped into Japan to support covertly inserted [[Boeing–Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche|Comanche]] helicopters.  One helicopter is used to attack another AWACS plane with air-to-air missiles while several others use [[AGM-114 Hellfire|Hellfire missiles]] to kill members of Yamata's cabal. Meanwhile, Admiral Robby Jackson liberates the Marianas with few casualties by using a combination of cruise missiles and carrier air attacks to severely damage the Japanese aircraft stationed on the islands, which forces the Japanese commander to surrender his troops.

Outmaneuvered and cornered by the United States' military and economic response, Goto resigns, ceding power to his predecessor Koga, who was rescued earlier by Clark and Chavez from Yamata. Yamata and his surviving conspirators are arrested for treason, and the new Japanese government accepts the generous U.S. offer of ''[[Status quo ante bellum|status quo ante]]''.

Throughout the book, President Durling faces another political crisis: [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] Ed Kealty is forced to resign after being accused of rape. With the crisis over, President Durling nominates Ryan as vice president for successfully handling the crisis. However, an embittered [[Japan Air Lines]] pilot, driven mad by the deaths of his son and brother during the conflict, flies his [[Boeing 747]] directly into the [[United States Capitol|U.S. Capitol]] during a special [[Joint session of the United States Congress|joint session]] of Congress. The president, as well as nearly the entire Congress, the [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]], and many other members of the [[Federal government of the United States|federal government]], are all killed in the attack. Ryan, who was on his way to be sworn as vice president after being confirmed, narrowly escapes the explosion. He becomes the President of the United States and takes his oath of office before a district judge in the [[CNN]] studios in Washington.

==Characters==

===The United States government===
* '''[[Jack Ryan (character)|Jack Ryan]]''': [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]] to President Durling. Previously worked at the [[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA]]. Later appointed as [[Vice President of the United States]] for successfully handling the crisis between the United States and Japan, Ryan was to serve out the end of disgraced former Vice President Kealty's term with the assurance that, upon completion of that final duty, he could permanently retire from government service and be relieved of any future obligation to serve.  However, he becomes President after his superior was killed in the attack on the [[United States Capitol]].
* '''Roger Durling''': [[President of the United States]]. Succeeded J. Robert Fowler after his resignation in the previous novel. Dies in the Capitol attack.
* '''Edward Jonathan Kealty''': Vice President of the United States who later resigns from his post after it was publicly revealed that he was under [[FBI]] investigation for sexual misconduct.
* '''Brett Hanson''': [[United States Secretary of State|Secretary of State]]. Dies in the Capitol attack.
* '''Bosley "Buzz" Fiedler''': [[United States Secretary of the Treasury|Secretary of the Treasury]]. Dies in the Capitol attack.
* '''Scott Adler''': [[United States Deputy Secretary of State|Deputy Secretary of State]] who later handles the negotiations with the Japanese over trying to recover the [[Mariana Islands]] by diplomatic means.
* '''Christopher Cook''': Deputy assistant secretary of state who unwittingly passes secret information to Japan in an effort to influence the diplomatic negotiations between the two countries.
* '''Dan Murray''': Deputy assistant director of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] and lead investigator in the criminal case against Kealty
* '''Alan Trent''': Chairman of the [[House Select Committee on Intelligence]]. A vocal critic of the Japanese, he becomes instrumental in the swift passage of the Trade Reform Act, which would later cause war between the United States and Japan.

====The [[Central Intelligence Agency]]====
* '''[[John Clark (Tom Clancy character)|John Clark]]''': Operations officer
* '''Domingo "Ding" Chavez''': Operations officer
* '''Mary Pat Foley''': [[Deputy Director of Operations|Deputy Director (Operations)]]
* '''Chet Nomuri''': Field officer of Japanese descent working in Japan

====The United States military====
* '''Bart Mancuso''': Rear admiral and commander of submarine forces in the [[United States Pacific Fleet|Pacific Fleet]] ([[COMSUBPAC]])
* '''Robby Jackson''': Rear admiral (lower half) working as Deputy J-3 in the [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], later Commander of [[Task Force 77 (United States Navy)|Task Force 77]] (CTF-77) during the retaking of the Marianas
* '''Rear Admiral Mike Dubro''': Commander of the {{USS|Dwight D. Eisenhower|CVN-69|6}} and {{USS|Abraham Lincoln|CVN-72|6}} carrier battle groups in the [[Indian Ocean]]
* '''Rafael "Bud" Sanchez''': Commander of the [[carrier air wing|Carrier Air Group]] (CAG) on {{USS|John C. Stennis|CVN-74|6}}
* '''Lieutenant Commander Wally Martin "Dutch" Claggett''': Commander of {{USS|Tennessee|SSBN-734|6}}, an {{Sclass|Ohio|submarine|2}}
* '''Sandy Richter''': [[Chief Warrant Officer]] 4 and one of the test pilots for the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] [[Boeing–Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche|Comanche helicopter]] program that later becomes central to the plan to retake the Marianas
* '''Captain Diego Checa''': Leader of a squad of [[United States Army Rangers]] who establish a mountaintop helicopter base in Japan
* '''Julio Vega''': Senior [[non-commissioned officer]] in the squad of Rangers assigned to Japan
* '''Chief Obrecki''': A [[non-commissioned officer]] contacted by Master Chief Oreza with the news that the Japanese have invaded Saipan. Obrecki was the seaman who diagnosed the turbocharger problem on the ''Panache''.

===Japan===
* '''Raizo Yamata''': Chairman of a large conglomerate in Japan and leader of the zaibatsu. He is the sole architect behind the war between the U.S. and Japan, which is motivated by revenge for the suicide of his family on [[Banzai Cliff]] in [[Saipan]] in an effort to evade capture by American forces during [[World War II]]. He underestimates both U.S. resourcefulness and his own nation's willingness to engage in hostility and is ultimately captured after an attempt to flee to the People's Republic of China fails.
* '''Hiroshi Goto''': Japanese politician who is aggressive towards the U.S. Controlled by Yamata, he becomes prime minister of Japan for most of the war between his country and the U.S.
* '''Mogataru Koga''': Prime minister of Japan who resigns in disgrace due to his country's economic situation, which paves the way for Goto's ascension into power. He becomes a bargaining chip in the diplomatic negotiations, as he is a potential opposition leader to Goto, but he is kidnapped by Yamata in an effort to silence him. After being rescued by Clark and Chavez from Yamata's men, he resumes his position as Japan's leader at the conclusion of the hostilities.
* '''Rear Admiral Yusuo Sato''': [[Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force|JMDSF]] fleet commander associated with Yamata. Later dies after ''Tennessee'' sinks his destroyer ''Mutsu'' with torpedoes.
* '''Seiji Nagumo''': [[Public Security Intelligence Agency|Japanese intelligence]] officer covered as an embassy official, who is Cook's de facto case officer.
* '''Torajiro Sato''': A captain flying 747s for Japan Air Lines. His brother Yusuo and his son Major Shiro, who is an [[Mitsubishi F-15J|F-15 Eagle]] pilot, are killed in the military conflict. Embittered by his ordeal, he exacts revenge by crashing his aircraft into a [[joint session of the United States Congress|joint session of Congress]] in the U.S. Capitol.

===Other characters===
* '''V. K. Chandraskatta''': Fleet commander in the [[Indian Navy]] who is allied with Yamata. He is in command of the Indian carrier battle group that tries to provoke Admiral Dubro in the [[Indian Ocean]], who are stationed there to prevent [[India]] from invading the neighboring country of [[Sri Lanka]] and annex it.
* '''Zhang Han San''': Chinese career diplomat allied with Yamata
* '''George Winston''': Founder of the Columbus Group, a [[mutual funds]] group. He initially sells his company to Yamata, but after the stock market crash, he retakes control of his company after an emergency board meeting, and finds out that the Japanese businessman had caused the incident.
* '''Mark Gant''': Senior executive of the Columbus Group and a trusted aide to Winston
* '''Sergey Golovko''': [[Director of SVR|Chairman]] of the [[Foreign Intelligence Service (Russia)|Russian Foreign Intelligence Service]] (SVR)
* '''Major Boris Il'ych Scherenko''': Deputy ''[[Resident spy|rezident]]'' of Station Tokyo for the SVR
* '''Oleg Lyalin''': Former [[KGB]] "[[resident spy#Types of resident spies|illegal]]" who is now an instructor at the [[Defense Language Institute]], based in [[Presidio of Monterey, California]]. He tells Clark and Chavez about THISTLE, his well-placed network of agents in Japan, and how to reactivate it.
* '''Manuel "Portagee" Oreza''': Former Master Chief Quartermaster for the [[United States Coast Guard]] who lives with his wife in Saipan. He feeds information about the Japanese presence in the island to the [[National Military Command Center]] (NMCC) through Admiral Jackson, and later has a reunion with Clark, whom he knew as John Kelly about twenty years ago in previous novel ''[[Without Remorse]]''.
* '''Kimberly Norton''': American national who is Goto's mistress. Clark and Chavez are sent to Japan to contact Norton and offer her a free ticket home, but she is killed by Yamata's men after Goto becomes prime minister since she is deemed to be a security risk.
* '''Barbara Linders''': A former aide to Vice President Kealty who was raped by her boss three years prior
* '''Cathy Ryan''': Associate professor with [[Johns Hopkins Hospital]], Jack Ryan's wife

==Themes==
''Debt of Honor'' was released during a time of American resentment towards the Japanese, which was further popularized by the publication of [[Michael Crichton]]'s crime thriller novel ''[[Rising Sun (Crichton novel)|Rising Sun]]'' in 1992.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Greenberg |first1=Martin H. |title=The Tom Clancy Companion |pages=31–33 |edition=Revised}}</ref>

The novel also reinforces Clancy's belief that the recent downsizing of the military establishment after the [[Cold War]] "has so depleted our military resources that the country is vulnerable to aggression that can arise anywhere, anytime", according to ''[[Publishers Weekly]]''{{'}}s review of the book.<ref>{{cite web|title=Fiction Book Review: Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-399-13954-3|work=Publishers Weekly|access-date=7 September 2018}}</ref>

==Reception==

===Commercial===
The book debuted at number one on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list. It also debuted at number one on the ''[[USA Today]]''{{'s}} Best-selling Books list for the week of August 25, 1994.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Deutsch |first1=Lindsay |title=Tom Clancy made a splash with 7 No. 1 books |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2013/10/02/tom-clancy-no-1-books/2909567/ |website=USA Today |accessdate=4 December 2018}}</ref>

===Critical===
The novel received mixed reviews. ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' praised Clancy, who "spins out story threads in a rich but bewildering tangle of plot and setting, then vigorously weaves them together. Here, the heart-stopping climax is unexpected, but oddly appropriate." However, [[Christopher Buckley (novelist)|Christopher Buckley]], in a review for ''[[The New York Times]]'', called the book a "herniating experience", criticized its "racist" depictions of Japanese characters and judged that it was "as subtle as a World War II anti-Japanese poster showing a mustachioed [[Hideki Tojo|Tojo]] bayoneting Caucasian babies".<ref>{{cite news|last1=Buckley|first1=Christopher|title=Megabashing Japan|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/02/books/crime-mystery-megabashing-japan.html?pagewanted=all|access-date=10 November 2015|work=The New York Times|date=2 October 1994}}</ref>

==Legacy==
In later years, the novel was noted for its similarity to the circumstances surrounding [[United Airlines Flight 93]], especially regarding its climax, where an embittered Japanese pilot crashes his 747 on a joint session of Congress in the Capitol. While researching for the novel's ending, Clancy consulted an Air Force officer and described his reaction: "I ran this idea past him and all of a sudden this guy's eyeballing me rather closely and I said, 'Come on General, I know you must have looked at this before, you've got to have a plan for it.'  And the guy goes, 'Mr. Clancy, to the best of my knowledge, if we had a plan to deal with this, it would be secret, I wouldn't be able to talk to you about it, but to the best of my knowledge we've never looked at this possibility before.'"<ref>{{cite web |title=Transcript from a BBC program titled "A Warning from Hollywood" dated March 24, 2002 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/audio_video/programmes/panorama/transcripts/transcript_24_03_02.txt |website=BBC.co.uk |access-date=7 September 2018}}</ref>

In April 1995, United States senator [[Sam Nunn]] outlined a scenario similar to the novel's ending, in which terrorists attack the Capitol on the night of a [[State of the Union address]] by crashing a radio-controlled airplane filled with chemical weapons into it. Nunn concluded that the scenario is "not far-fetched" and that the required technology is readily available.<ref>{{cite web |title=Context of 'August 17, 1994: Tom Clancy Bestseller Includes Plane Deliberately Crashed into U.S. Capitol Building' |url=http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a94clancybook |access-date=7 September 2018 |archive-date=September 8, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180908054252/http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a94clancybook |url-status=dead }}</ref> However, the [[9/11 Commission Report]] revealed that national security officials did not consider the possibility: “[Counterterror official] [[Richard A. Clarke|Richard Clarke]] told us that he was concerned about the danger posed by aircraft in the context of protecting the [[1996 Summer Olympics|Atlanta Olympics of 1996]], the [[White House complex]], and the [[2001 G-8 summit]] in [[Genoa]]. But he attributed his awareness more to Tom Clancy novels than to warnings from the intelligence community.”<ref>{{cite news |last1=Groll |first1=Elias |title=Why Tom Clancy was a terrorism visionary |url=https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/10/12/why_tom_clancy_was_a_terrorism_visionary.html |newspaper=The Toronto Star |date=2013-10-12 |access-date=7 September 2018}}</ref>

In the aftermath of the attacks, Clancy was called into [[CNN]] and commented on the similarity between a plane crash depicted in the novel and the crash of United Flight 93. CNN anchor [[Judy Woodruff]] later remarked: "People in our newsroom have been saying today that what is happening is like right out of a Tom Clancy novel."<ref>{{cite web | title=Transcripts: America Under Attack: Israeli Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Offer Condolences to the American People | date=September 11, 2001 | url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/11/bn.74.html | website=CNN.com | access-date=September 7, 2018}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Further|Tom Clancy#Further reading}}
* Gallagher, Mark. ''Action figures: Men, action films, and contemporary adventure narratives'' (Springer, 2006).
* Griffin, Benjamin. "The good guys win: Ronald Reagan, Tom Clancy, and the transformation of national security" (PhD thesis, U of Texas, 2018).  [https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/9af4487c-7372-452e-9c7d-0415900b2606/content online]
* Hixson, Walter L. "''Red Storm Rising'': Tom Clancy Novels and the Cult of National Security." ''Diplomatic History'' 17.4 (1993): 599–614. 
* Outlaw, Leroy B. "Red Storm Rising-A Primer for a Future Conventional War in Central Europe"" (Army War College, 1988). [https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a195010.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190706053510/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a195010.pdf |date=July 6, 2019 }}
* Payne, Matthew Thomas. ''Playing war: Military video games after 9/11'' (NYU Press, 2016).
* Terdoslavich, William. ''The Jack Ryan Agenda: Policy and Politics in the Novels of Tom Clancy: An Unauthorized Analysis'' (Macmillan, 2005). [https://www.amazon.com/Jack-Ryan-Agenda-Politics-Unauthorized/dp/0765312476/ excerpt]

{{Jack Ryan fiction}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Debt Of Honor}}
[[Category:1994 American novels]]
[[Category:American thriller novels]]
[[Category:Aviation novels]]
[[Category:Financial thrillers]]
[[Category:G. P. Putnam's Sons books]]
[[Category:Japan in non-Japanese culture]]
[[Category:Novels about nuclear war and weapons]]
[[Category:Novels by Tom Clancy]]
[[Category:Novels set in Japan]]
[[Category:Novels set in Maryland]]
[[Category:Novels set in Tennessee]]
[[Category:Novels set in Washington, D.C.]]
[[Category:Race-related controversies in literature]]
[[Category:Ryanverse]]
[[Category:Techno-thriller novels]]
[[Category:United States presidential succession in fiction]]