SIOP, the Secret U.S. Plan for Nuclear War

SIOP, the Secret U.S. Plan for Nuclear War PDF

Author: Peter Pringle

Publisher: W. W. Norton

Published: 1983-01-01

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 9780393017984

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Examines the American policies concerning nuclear warfare and describes the development of plans and strategies for fighting a nuclear war.

S.I.O.P

S.I.O.P PDF

Author: Peter Pringle

Publisher:

Published: 1983-10

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780393335163

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This is the first comprehensive look at the plan (Single Integrated Operating Plan, or S.I.O.P.) the United States has had since 1960 to wage nuclear war on Russia.

The Bomb

The Bomb PDF

Author: Fred Kaplan

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Published: 2021-02-02

Total Pages: 384

ISBN-13: 1982107308

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

From the author of the classic The Wizards of Armageddon and Pulitzer Prize finalist comes the definitive history of American policy on nuclear war—and Presidents’ actions in nuclear crises—from Truman to Trump. Fred Kaplan, hailed by The New York Times as “a rare combination of defense intellectual and pugnacious reporter,” takes us into the White House Situation Room, the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s “Tank” in the Pentagon, and the vast chambers of Strategic Command to bring us the untold stories—based on exclusive interviews and previously classified documents—of how America’s presidents and generals have thought about, threatened, broached, and just barely avoided nuclear war from the dawn of the atomic age until today. Kaplan’s historical research and deep reporting will stand as the permanent record of politics. Discussing theories that have dominated nightmare scenarios from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Kaplan presents the unthinkable in terms of mass destruction and demonstrates how the nuclear war reality will not go away, regardless of the dire consequences.

To Win a Nuclear War

To Win a Nuclear War PDF

Author: Michio Kaku

Publisher:

Published: 1987

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 9780921689072

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

To Win a Nuclear War records as fully as we are likely to find what has gone on in the minds of American leaders and nuclear strategists on this awesome subject during these fateful forty years. It is an appalling story... This book compels us to re-think and re-write the history of the Cold War and the arms race."--From the foreword by Ramsey Clark, former Attorney General of the United States. To Win a Nuclear War provides a startling glimpse into secret U.S. plans to initiate a nuclear war from 1945 to the present. Based on recently declassified Top Secret documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, this book meticulously traces how U.S. policy makers in over a dozen episodes have threatened to initiate a nuclear attack. The book also documents the surprising reasons why the war plans were never carried out and discloses the deeper, hidden meaning of the Star Wars program.

The Doomsday Machine

The Doomsday Machine PDF

Author: Daniel Ellsberg

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2017-12-05

Total Pages: 433

ISBN-13: 1608196747

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Finalist for The California Book Award in Nonfiction The San Francisco Chronicle's Best of the Year List Foreign Affairs Best Books of the Year In These Times “Best Books of the Year" Huffington Post's Ten Excellent December Books List LitHub's “Five Books Making News This Week” From the legendary whistle-blower who revealed the Pentagon Papers, an eyewitness exposé of the dangers of America's Top Secret, seventy-year-long nuclear policy that continues to this day. Here, for the first time, former high-level defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg reveals his shocking firsthand account of America's nuclear program in the 1960s. From the remotest air bases in the Pacific Command, where he discovered that the authority to initiate use of nuclear weapons was widely delegated, to the secret plans for general nuclear war under Eisenhower, which, if executed, would cause the near-extinction of humanity, Ellsberg shows that the legacy of this most dangerous arms buildup in the history of civilization--and its proposed renewal under the Trump administration--threatens our very survival. No other insider with high-level access has written so candidly of the nuclear strategy of the late Eisenhower and early Kennedy years, and nothing has fundamentally changed since that era. Framed as a memoir--a chronicle of madness in which Ellsberg acknowledges participating--this gripping exposé reads like a thriller and offers feasible steps we can take to dismantle the existing "doomsday machine" and avoid nuclear catastrophe, returning Ellsberg to his role as whistle-blower. The Doomsday Machine is thus a real-life Dr. Strangelove story and an ultimately hopeful--and powerfully important--book about not just our country, but the future of the world.

Command and Control

Command and Control PDF

Author: Eric Schlosser

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2013-09-17

Total Pages: 656

ISBN-13: 1101638664

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The Oscar-shortlisted documentary Command and Control, directed by Robert Kenner, finds its origins in Eric Schlosser's book and continues to explore the little-known history of the management and safety concerns of America's nuclear aresenal. “Deeply reported, deeply frightening . . . a techno-thriller of the first order.” —Los Angeles Times “A devastatingly lucid and detailed new history of nuclear weapons in the U.S. . . . fascinating.” —Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine A myth-shattering exposé of America’s nuclear weapons Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America’s nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking account of accidents, near misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: How do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? That question has never been resolved—and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave risk to mankind. While the harms of global warming increasingly dominate the news, the equally dangerous yet more immediate threat of nuclear weapons has been largely forgotten. Written with the vibrancy of a first-rate thriller, Command and Control interweaves the minute-by-minute story of an accident at a nuclear missile silo in rural Arkansas with a historical narrative that spans more than fifty years. It depicts the urgent effort by American scientists, policy makers, and military officers to ensure that nuclear weapons can’t be stolen, sabotaged, used without permission, or detonated inadvertently. Schlosser also looks at the Cold War from a new perspective, offering history from the ground up, telling the stories of bomber pilots, missile commanders, maintenance crews, and other ordinary servicemen who risked their lives to avert a nuclear holocaust. At the heart of the book lies the struggle, amid the rolling hills and small farms of Damascus, Arkansas, to prevent the explosion of a ballistic missile carrying the most powerful nuclear warhead ever built by the United States. Drawing on recently declassified documents and interviews with people who designed and routinely handled nuclear weapons, Command and Control takes readers into a terrifying but fascinating world that, until now, has been largely hidden from view. Through the details of a single accident, Schlosser illustrates how an unlikely event can become unavoidable, how small risks can have terrible consequences, and how the most brilliant minds in the nation can only provide us with an illusion of control. Audacious, gripping, and unforgettable, Command and Control is a tour de force of investigative journalism, an eye-opening look at the dangers of America’s nuclear age.

Taming the Wild West

Taming the Wild West PDF

Author: U. S. Military

Publisher:

Published: 2017-01-23

Total Pages: 105

ISBN-13: 9781520442044

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

This excellent report has been professionally converted for accurate flowing-text e-book format reproduction. While the United States adopted several national policies regulating nuclear weapons during the late 1940s and 1950s, it would take until 1961 for the United States to have a cohesive operational plan for the employment of nuclear weapons. This was known as the Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP). Prior to the SIOP, combatant commanders independently developed theater nuclear war plans, leading to uncoordinated, redundant, and overlapping nuclear strikes. These independently formed plans led to a state of chaos much like the American wild west. When President Eisenhower directed creation of the first SIOP, known as SIOP-62, it revolutionized nuclear war planning and effectively tamed the wild west. The SIOP integrated the various military service plans and created a master plan for the nation in time of nuclear war eliminating much of the chaos caused by lack of coordination. Studying the period 1945-1961 provides nuclear planners and policy makers with the perspective needed to understand why current United States policies exist. Since 1945, America has relied on nuclear weapons as the last line of defense and primary deterrent preventing communist aggression. The SIOP, therefore, is the ultimate protection plan against total war. However, did SIOP-62 make the world a safer place? Yes, it did; but the true value of SIOP-62 was not formation of the perfect plan. Instead, SIOP-62, codified a planning process that created a standard for all future war plans. The study of policy in this paper focuses on the events and people that shaped United States nuclear policy and formed the first SIOP. CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION * Thesis Statement * Methodology * Notable Works * Contributors to Nuclear Strategy * Key Terms * Conclusion * CHAPTER 2 - THE TRUMAN ADMINISTRATION'S INFLUENCE ON THE SIOP (1945-1952) * Introduction * Truman Takes Office * International Control * Containment * National Security Act of 1947 * Fiscal Year 1950 Budget Battle * Strategic Air Command * War Plans * The Berlin Airlift * NSC-30 * NSC-68 * Korean War * Conclusion * CHAPTER 3 - THE EISENHOWER ADMINISTRATION'S INFLUENCE ON THE SIOP (1953-1960) * Introduction * Eisenhower Takes Office * Korean War * NSC-162/2 * Killian Report * Gaither Report * Hickey Report * Eisenhower Orders SIOP * SIOP Development * Conclusion * CHAPTER 4 - THE KENNEDY ADMINISTRATION'S ASSESSMENT OF THE SIOP (1961) * Introduction * Kennedy Takes Office * First Exposure to SIOP-62 * McNamara Orders Changes * Bay of Pigs * Kennedy Meets with Khrushchev * Return to Nuclear Testing * SIOP-62 Briefing to Kennedy * SIOP Background * SIOP Strategy * SIOP Forces * SIOP Options * SIOP Flexibility * Show of Force * Conclusion * CHAPTER 5 - CONCLUSIONS * President Truman * President Eisenhower * Conclusion * Recommendation

Raven Rock

Raven Rock PDF

Author: Garrett M. Graff

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2017-05-02

Total Pages: 560

ISBN-13: 147673545X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Now a 6-part mini-series called Why the Rest of Us Die airing on VICE TV! The shocking truth about the government’s secret plans to survive a catastrophic attack on US soil—even if the rest of us die—is “a frightening eye-opener” (Kirkus Reviews) that spans the dawn of the nuclear age to today, and "contains everything one could possibly want to know" (The Wall Street Journal). Every day in Washington, DC, the blue-and-gold first Helicopter Squadron, codenamed “MUSSEL,” flies over the Potomac River. As obvious as the Presidential motorcade, most people assume the squadron is a travel perk for VIPs. They’re only half right: while the helicopters do provide transport, the unit exists to evacuate high-ranking officials in the event of a terrorist or nuclear attack on the capital. In the event of an attack, select officials would be whisked by helicopters to a ring of secret bunkers around Washington, even as ordinary citizens were left to fend for themselves. “In exploring the incredible lengths (and depths) that successive administrations have gone to in planning for the aftermath of a nuclear assault, Graff deftly weaves a tale of secrecy and paranoia” (The New York Times Book Review) with details "that read like they've been ripped from the pages of a pulp spy novel" (Vice). For more than sixty years, the US government has been developing secret Doomsday strategies to protect itself, and the multibillion-dollar Continuity of Government (COG) program takes numerous forms—from its potential to evacuate the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia to the plans to launch nuclear missiles from a Boeing-747 jet flying high over Nebraska. Garrett M. Graff sheds light on the inner workings of the 650-acre compound, called Raven Rock, just miles from Camp David, as well as dozens of other bunkers the government built for its top leaders during the Cold War, from the White House lawn to Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado to Palm Beach, Florida, and the secret plans that would have kicked in after a Cold War nuclear attack to round up foreigners and dissidents and nationalize industries. Equal parts a presidential, military, and cultural history, Raven Rock tracks the evolution of the government plan and the threats of global war from the dawn of the nuclear era through the War on Terror.

Getting MAD: Nuclear Mutual Assured Destruction, Its Origins and Practice

Getting MAD: Nuclear Mutual Assured Destruction, Its Origins and Practice PDF

Author:

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1428910336

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Nearly 40 years after the concept of finite deterrence was popularized by the Johnson administration, nuclear Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) thinking appears to be in decline. The United States has rejected the notion that threatening population centers with nuclear attacks is a legitimate way to assure deterrence. Most recently, it withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, an agreement based on MAD. American opposition to MAD also is reflected in the Bush administration's desire to develop smaller, more accurate nuclear weapons that would reduce the number of innocent civilians killed in a nuclear strike. Still, MAD is influential in a number of ways. First, other countries, like China, have not abandoned the idea that holding their adversaries' cities at risk is necessary to assure their own strategic security. Nor have U.S. and allied security officials and experts fully abandoned the idea. At a minimum, acquiring nuclear weapons is still viewed as being sensible to face off a hostile neighbor that might strike one's own cities. Thus, our diplomats have been warning China that Japan would be under tremendous pressure to go nuclear if North Korea persisted in acquiring a few crude weapons of its own. Similarly, Israeli officials have long argued, without criticism, that they would not be second in acquiring nuclear weapons in the Middle East. Indeed, given that Israelis surrounded by enemies that would not hesitate to destroy its population if they could, Washington finds Israel's retention of a significant nuclear capability totally "understandable."

Restricted Data

Restricted Data PDF

Author: Alex Wellerstein

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2024-04-23

Total Pages: 558

ISBN-13: 0226833445

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The first full history of US nuclear secrecy, from its origins in the late 1930s to our post–Cold War present. The American atomic bomb was born in secrecy. From the moment scientists first conceived of its possibility to the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and beyond, there were efforts to control the spread of nuclear information and the newly discovered scientific facts that made such powerful weapons possible. The totalizing scientific secrecy that the atomic bomb appeared to demand was new, unusual, and very nearly unprecedented. It was foreign to American science and American democracy—and potentially incompatible with both. From the beginning, this secrecy was controversial, and it was always contested. The atomic bomb was not merely the application of science to war, but the result of decades of investment in scientific education, infrastructure, and global collaboration. If secrecy became the norm, how would science survive? Drawing on troves of declassified files, including records released by the government for the first time through the author’s efforts, Restricted Data traces the complex evolution of the US nuclear secrecy regime from the first whisper of the atomic bomb through the mounting tensions of the Cold War and into the early twenty-first century. A compelling history of powerful ideas at war, it tells a story that feels distinctly American: rich, sprawling, and built on the conflict between high-minded idealism and ugly, fearful power.