- President Richardson: [watching the sun set, for what he suspects will be his last time] I wanted my name to be entered into the history books, but I wanted it to be for something meaningful, something lasting. What could I have done that would have made the slightest damn bit of difference... wha... what could I have done?
- Dr. Krause: You have a cold?
- Big Man: Oh it is nothing.
- Dr. Krause: If I were to open this ampoule to the air, you would be dead within three days.
- Ensign Smirnov - Submarine T232: I have a responsibility to my men!
- Captain McCloud - HMS Nereid: You have a higher responsibility.
- Dr. Krause: Unless a way is found to neutralize this monster, we are left with a doomsday weapon.
- Spy Z: Which means a weapon that would never be used.
- Dr. Krause: By a rational man, but any student of history can tell you that a rational mind is not always a prerequisite to a position of power.
- Colonel Rankin: At the moment, we don't have a credible deterent in the United States arsenal.
- Dr. Ed Meyer: At the moment, we are capable not only of reducing each other to rubble, but of reducing the rubble to rubble!
- [explaining why a Soviet nuclear missile is aimed at the American polar station]
- Captain Nevsky: The United States had no particular monopoly on idiots.
- President Richardson: [about Senator Barkley] You were my opponent in every political battle, but you were never... you were never my enemy.
- President Richardson: [his last words, to General Garland] You are a fool, General. There's nobody left!
- Sen. Barkley: Mr. President, has the plague been identified yet?
- President Richardson: Senator, we don't know whether we're dealing with one plague germ or six. We don't even know where it came from or how it is being transmitted.
- Sen. Barkley: Maybe we've been looking in the wrong direction.
- President Richardson: We have looked in every direction, Senator.
- Sen. Barkley: Tell us something about Operation Phoenix, General Garland.
- Gen. Garland: Phoenix?
- President Richardson: What is Operation Phoenix?
- Gen. Garland: Just a... just a paper study.
- President Richardson: Oh?
- Gen. Garland: One of several options being studied in purely theoretical terms, Mr. President, nothing more.
- Sen. Barkley: Maybe a little bit more, General.
- President Richardson: What're we talking about?
- Sen. Barkley: Operation Phoenix was a top secret military study of a new weapon system.
- Gen. Garland: There are many such studies, it goes with a new job. New weapons, new studies... new alternatives...
- Sen. Barkley: A *biological* weapon system.
- Gen. Garland: [to the president] It was a *paper* study.
- Sen. Barkley: It was an *active* research project, involving a genetic manipulation of existing pathogenic viruses!
- Gen. Garland: It was theoretical!
- Sen. Barkley: New strains were not just studied, they were *created* in a laboratory.
- Gen. Garland: Under completely controlled conditions, I assure you, Mr. President!
- Sen. Barkley: *One* strain, MM88 was stolen and never recovered, and the president was never told about it. Now I'd like to know why!
- Gen. Garland: [tosses papers, gets on phone] Colonel Rankin, get in here this minute!
- [Rankin enters, coughing]
- Gen. Garland: Colonel Rankin, Operation Phoenix was *your* baby. MM88, was such a strain developed?
- Colonel Rankin: Yes, sir.
- Gen. Garland: Was any of it stolen?
- Colonel Rankin: No, sir, but it wouldn't have made any difference anyway.
- Gen. Garland: Why not?
- Colonel Rankin: MM88 was a failure. It was benign.
- Sen. Barkley: He's lying.
- Gen. Garland: Senator, I have had enough accusation for one afternoon. Now I demand to know the source of this horrible slander!
- [Barkley has Dr. Meyer brought in, Rankin reacts in horror]
- Colonel Rankin: Sir, this man is a paranoid schizophrenic, I can vouch for that.
- Gen. Garland: Well there you have it, rumors from the funny farm.
- Sen. Barkley: This is Dr. Baldwin's report, Dr. Meyer is incurably sane. It took us a little while to find that out because Colonel Rankin had him put away.
- Gen. Garland: Colonel, why was he committed?
- Sen. Barkley: To keep him from passing information about Operation Phoenix to my sub-committee.
- Gen. Garland: Colonel Rankin, I could have you shot! You are relieved of your duties!
- President Richardson: Tell me something, is this Italian flu actually MM88?
- Dr. Ed Meyer: I'm sure of it, sir.
- Gen. Garland: Sir, I fully support you in this last ditch effort, but I must stress the importance of the strong military posture at this point. Again I urge a State 1 alert, including the ARS activation,
- President Richardson: General... get out of my sight!