Connelly feels even worse about it after preventing an assassination attempt aboard Cahill's plane where a flight attendant is accidentally killed in the process.

After the newly inaugurated president has been planning a meeting with Fung, the President of Taiwan, to discuss the strained relationship between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China, one of the Secret Service agents returns home to find that his family is being held hostage by some men who are later revealed to be Fung's henchmen.

He hopes that this will lead a revolution among his people towards "a new beginning" of Taiwanese freedom, pointing out that since he alone controls all of the US's missiles, he would not have to worry about a mutually assured destruction of both China and the United States.

Valdez insists that this would never be possible and later Fung follows through with his threat, launching a first strike against Beijing using an ICBM from Nebraska.

Then Valdez contacts Chairman Tzu of China to explain the situation and that the United States did not launch the missile and is therefore not responsible.

They are both ultimately successful in taking out all but one of Fung's henchmen, all of which are rogue elements of the People's Liberation Army.

Valdez then gives the order to NORAD that "Stage One is a go", which Tzu is horrified to find out is in fact a launch of several of the US's ICBMs.

At the end of the film, it has been implied that Valdez was elevated to the presidency, giving a speech to the American people about the challenges that go with her new responsibilities.