45 years ago this morning at 2:26 A.M. EDT, warning displays at the Strategic Air Command suddenly indicated a Soviet SLBM attack on the United States was underway, first showing 2 and then, 18 seconds later, 200 inbound ballistic missiles. SAC ordered all alert bomber crews to start their engines. - ThreadSky

atomicanalyst.bsky.social • 19 days ago

45 years ago this morning at 2:26 A.M. EDT, warning displays at the Strategic Air Command suddenly indicated a Soviet SLBM attack on the United States was underway, first showing 2 and then, 18 seconds later, 200 inbound ballistic missiles. SAC ordered all alert bomber crews to start their engines.

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atomicanalyst.bsky.social•19 days ago

Launch officers for 1,000 Minuteman ICBMs were also alerted to be ready to receive an Emergency Action Message—a coded launch order.

(Three minutes later, duty officers at NORAD determined this was a false alarm because early-warning satellites and ground-based radars had not detected an attack.)

atomicanalyst.bsky.social•19 days ago

In 2015, Eric Schlosser, author of the book “Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety,” revealed on Australian television that at least one Titan II ICBM launch crew (and almost certainly all 54) was ordered to retrieve and insert their launch keys.

atomicanalyst.bsky.social•19 days ago

Before that happened, however, General William Odom, National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski’s military assistant, called him at home, informing him that 220 Soviet SLBMs were hurtling toward the United States. Brzezinski told Odom to call back with a confirmation and the likely targets.

atomicanalyst.bsky.social•19 days ago

This story is relayed by former CIA Director Robert M. Gates in his 1996 memoir, “From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider’s Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War.” It is the only known place where this dramatic anecdote—as personally recounted by Brzezinski to Gates—appears.

atomicanalyst.bsky.social•19 days ago

According to this account, when Odom called back, he told Brzezinski 2,200 missiles were now on their way—practically the entire Soviet nuclear arsenal. As Brzezinski was preparing to call President Carter with the horrific news, Odom telephoned a third time to convey that it was all a false alarm.

atomicanalyst.bsky.social•19 days ago

We don’t know if Brzezinski ever fell asleep again that night. But we do know he did not wake up his wife, Emilie (seen below, in October 1979), to tell her anything, because he later confided to Gates that he preferred she should be asleep when the nuclear warheads rained down on Washington, DC.

boltyboy.bsky.social•16 days ago

Well we didn't get blown up and we did get a great movie out of it....must rewatch War Games

Of course the Russians had a similar issue
https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/comments/1cy0f4c/in_september_1983_soviet_military_officer/

seanom.bsky.social•19 days ago

📌

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