- At an American Air Force base, the British Group Captain Mandrake gets a call from the cigar-smoking General Jack D. Ripper.
- Ripper orders Mandrake to put the base on red alert and tells the Captain that war with the Russians has started.
- The General also orders that all the radios on base be confiscated so that saboteurs can't try to make contact.
- The base is to be put on lockdown because Soviets disguised as Americans might try to attack.
- Scariest of all, Mandrake is supposed to alert the planes in the air that "Plan R" is in effect.
- We can tell from Mandrake's horrified reaction that this is not good...not good at all.