3 ms·

Daniel Ellsberg's book "The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner" is a really good rundown of the systems the US had (he was involved in putti

Daniel Ellsberg's book "The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner" is a really good rundown of the systems the US had (he was involved in putting together war plans at RAND corporation). It's been a while since I read it, but as I recall from what he says, things were not as they were normally potrayed, such as ideas like "only the President can authorise a nuclear strike" - apparently at times there were actually several layers of 'delegated authority' (in case a first strike killed the president), so there were actually quite a few people who could authorise the use of nuclear weapons, and more than there were meant to be (because the next level wasn't meant to delegate to another, but did)! This was mostly before missiles so when it would have all been ordering bomber pilots, so it was a bit more decentralised. The other thing is that there was an idea that the US wouldn't launch a first-strike but would only retaliate - but there were actually multiple times when generals tried to get the President to authorise a nuclear first strike, including in the Cuba missile crisis.

KennyBlanken 5y ago
The notion that only the President could order a strike was sheer fantasy for much of the history of nuclear weapons. There were no codes required to activate them for the longest time; the only security mechanism was just, really, the morals and mental stability of half a dozen crew on any of dozens of bombers flying 24x7. When the Air Force was forced to institute Permissive Action Link, a system whereby nukes couldn't be armed without a numeric code (in theory from the President's Football, I guess, or maybe from a place like NORAD, after the president authenticated himself to them)...they set the codes on all weapons to be zeros. That level of petulance over nuclear weapons is pretty mind-blowing. It is, frankly, amazing that we've never had anyone go completely nuts and set one off on purpose. Never had one malfunction. Never intentionally, but for mistaken reasons, launched/dropped any. We've come close to thinking we were getting nuked (as has the USSR; literally one Russian dude deciding to play it safe was all that really kept both the USSR and the US from near total annihilation. A satellite told him it had detected a launch and he knew there was a chance it was sunlight glint. Yes, the USSR was relying on a satellite to decide on whether to start WW3...that could be triggered by sunlight glinting into its lenses. There's also the rather shocking number of nuclear weapons the US Air Force has 'accidentally' dropped or had in planes that crashed. In some of the incidents, a number of the safety interlock systems were found to be "satisfied." Some of the warheads haven't been found, which is also quite disturbing. Somewhere out there is at least one nuke, waiting for anyone to grab it and make a dirty bomb. Oh, and the group that transports nuclear materials (not sure if this includes weapons? I think the Air Force handles that?) around the country is apparently a total shitshow. Undertrained, overworked, underpaid, underfunded guys who manage to get into all sorts of trouble, including losing their handguns, getting drunk while on duty, and so on. I think the only compelling argument someone could make with me for the existence of a higher power is that we haven't yet had an accidental nuclear weapon detonation.

KennyBlanken 5y ago

The notion that only the President could order a strike was sheer fantasy for much of the history of nuclear weapons. There were no codes required to activate them for the longest time; the only security mechanism was just, really, the morals and mental stability of half a dozen crew on any of dozens of bombers flying 24x7. When the Air Force was forced to institute Permissive Action Link, a system whereby nukes couldn't be armed without a numeric code (in theory from the President's Football, I guess, or maybe from a place like NORAD, after the president authenticated himself to them)...they set the codes on all weapons to be zeros. That level of petulance over nuclear weapons is pretty mind-blowing. It is, frankly, amazing that we've never had anyone go completely nuts and set one off on purpose. Never had one malfunction. Never intentionally, but for mistaken reasons, launched/dropped any. We've come close to thinking we were getting nuked (as has the USSR; literally one Russian dude deciding to play it safe was all that really kept both the USSR and the US from near total annihilation. A satellite told him it had detected a launch and he knew there was a chance it was sunlight glint. Yes, the USSR was relying on a satellite to decide on whether to start WW3...that could be triggered by sunlight glinting into its lenses. There's also the rather shocking number of nuclear weapons the US Air Force has 'accidentally' dropped or had in planes that crashed. In some of the incidents, a number of the safety interlock systems were found to be "satisfied." Some of the warheads haven't been found, which is also quite disturbing. Somewhere out there is at least one nuke, waiting for anyone to grab it and make a dirty bomb. Oh, and the group that transports nuclear materials (not sure if this includes weapons? I think the Air Force handles that?) around the country is apparently a total shitshow. Undertrained, overworked, underpaid, underfunded guys who manage to get into all sorts of trouble, including losing their handguns, getting drunk while on duty, and so on. I think the only compelling argument someone could make with me for the existence of a higher power is that we haven't yet had an accidental nuclear weapon detonation.