Posted on 08/14/2015 12:31:25 PM PDT by lbryce
The U.S. came within seconds of launching a nuclear strike on Russia ,unleashing WW3 during the coldest period of the Cold War, according to secret documents revealed by a historian.
Washington and Russia came extremely close to a massive nuclear war because of a faulty 46-cent component that caused a computer glitch, according to the documents. The secret documents were revealed and detailed in a book by American author Eric Schlosser titled Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety. The documents include over 1,000 accidents with nuclear weapons that occurred due to the negligence of American servicemen. In particular, the documents describe explosions, fires and accidental drops of nuclear bombs that could have cost millions of lives during the Cold War.
“It’s only since the Cold War ended that we've been able to find out how close we came, again and again, to having our own weapons detonate by accident, or potentially be stolen, or potentially be used by people without proper authorization,” Eric Schlosser wrote.
One incident that could have erased millions of lives from Earth took place at the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado in 1979. Defense officials were informed of a large-scale incoming attack from the Soviet side while computer screens showed images of the beginning of the imminent attack, prompting the officials to prepare to respond with nuclear weapons. Then a check-up of the backup radar took place, which allowed the officials to call off the retaliation nuclear strike seconds before it would have been launched, according to the documents.
2,200 Russian nuclear heading to U.S. shores Another event that could have unleashed an-all out nuclear conflict on Earth described how U.S. warning systems detected an incoming attack from hundreds missiles supposedly launched by Soviets.
(Excerpt) Read more at valuewalk.com ...
"Computer glitch?"
Is that a technical term?
This put me in mind of Ronald Reagan’s famous off the cuff remark about launching the nukes...
1979? Who was president then? Hmmmmm
Wasn’t that also the time that space aliens intervened to shut down both sides’ launch systems to save the human race?
Gene Hackman
Jimmy Carter almost pushed the button? I doubt it.
This place just got their first viewing of ‘War Games 1983’
The 1979 incident is not a secret. Hell, that’s been out there for years.
“Wasn’t that also the time that space aliens intervened to shut down both sides’ launch systems to save the human race?”
Poor decision by the Aliens...
Then you need to Shop Smart; Shop S-MART
Fortunately, Major “King” Kong woke up feeling under the weather that morning and so couldn’t take his bomber out.
THANK YOU
pleasant memories of perhaps a sane time!!
That was one of my favorite Reagan high points of that era.
Along with, “I am paying for this microphone!”
You gotta wonder how many times that dump, the USSR, came close to doing stupid things like that. Valuwalk sounds like a generic name for CNN, like Yorktown is for Marsh foods here in Central Indianer.
I heard the Russians had a similar experience on their end. Some malfunction caused radar blips which could have been interpreted as a US launch, but some moderate level officer held off pending confirmation.
It’s disturbing. But, these days, I think whenever I see something like this in the news that it’s part of the incessant leftist drive to convince the US to self-disarm.
http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/norad-false-alarm-causes-uproar
Some secret.
It was news at the time.
What if, what if? The US came within minutes of properly responding to the radar imaging of the Japanese air fleet on its way to Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. A proper warning and hundreds of US planes could have met the Japanese assault. What if, what if...?
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