Interesting Cold War article

[padren]

I ran across this and found it rather fascinating:

 

http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/17-10/mf_deadhand?currentPage=1

 

It details an amazing doomsday mechanism created in the USSR designed to automatically detect a full nuclear attack on Russia and transfer launch authorization directly to whomever was stationed at the underground bunkers with minimal safeguards to ensure a counter attack. It is called "Perimeter" or aka "Dead Hand" to ensure a full scale counter strike even if a successful preemptive strike took the USSR completely by surprise.

 

Unlike most "doomsday mechanisms" it was not publicized and made part of the MAD (we want you to know you can't hit us and survive) strategy and kept a very closely guarded secret. The mentality behind this decision appears to be rather interesting:

 

According to both Yarynich and Zheleznyakov, Perimeter was never meant as a traditional doomsday machine. The Soviets had taken game theory one step further than Kubrick, Szilard, and everyone else: They built a system to deter themselves.

 

By guaranteeing that Moscow could hit back, Perimeter was actually designed to keep an overeager Soviet military or civilian leader from launching prematurely during a crisis. The point, Zheleznyakov says, was "to cool down all these hotheads and extremists. No matter what was going to happen, there still would be revenge. Those who attack us will be punished."

 

I find cold war politics to be exceptionally fascinating because it really seems to encompass the most unthinkable and frightening scenarios that were planned for and still maintains seeds of introspection and forethought, even if it ends up completely twisted up in scenarios that make it all seem completely insane. Just to see how humans dealt with - for the first time in history - finding themselves in a world with these horrific capabilities that were here to stay and starting in a world build around the ideas of conventional warfare... it's a very unique point in history to alive in (even if it was a little before my adult years) and observe.

 

Btw: Posting this here instead of politics since it's more historical than useful to a modern political discussion, though I suppose it could go that way at which point the thread could be moved.

[CaptainPanic]

It's always nice to know that there is a 25 year old rusty Russian mechanism that can override launch protocols for nuclear missiles.

 

Perhaps now would be a good moment to dismantle this system, or at least to deactivate it. The threat of a nuclear war is negligible. The only enemy strong enough to justify the installation of this system is the USA. The USA is now friends with Russia (esp. since Obama took over from Bush).

[Mr Skeptic]

Wow, very interesting. The biggest question I would have, is how easy would it be to dupe the system into launching a first strike?

[SH3RL0CK]

Wow, very interesting. The biggest question I would have, is how easy would it be to dupe the system into launching a first strike?

 

Well, one thing about this system, the retalitory strike wouldn't have to happen right away. Later might even be preferable. Whoever would have control of the red button could wait a while, maybe even a couple of weeks just to be sure, before launching.

[insane_alien]

the thing is, none has control over this big red button. it controls itself.

[JillSwift]

the thing is, none has control over this big red button. it controls itself.

Heh. I am suddenly reminded of "Dark Star"

 

Doolittle: Hello, Bomb? Are you with me?

Bomb #20: Of course.

Doolittle: Are you willing to entertain a few concepts?

Bomb #20: I am always receptive to suggestions.

Doolittle: Fine. Think about this then. How do you know you exist?

Bomb #20: Well, of course I exist.

Doolittle: But how do you know you exist?

Bomb #20: It is intuitively obvious.

Doolittle: Intuition is no proof. What concrete evidence do you have that you exist?

Bomb #20: Hmmmm... well... I think, therefore I am.

Doolittle: That's good. That's very good. But how do you know that anything else exists?

Bomb #20: My sensory apparatus reveals it to me. This is fun.

[CharonY]

Or Dr. Strangelove. Actually precisely like that.

[padren]

the thing is, none has control over this big red button. it controls itself.

 

That is not precisely true. An individual in the bunker has to push the button. However, there is a checklist that ends in "pushing the button" if a series of events occur, based on sensor data and communications failure.

 

Once a "command missile" is launched though, the system does take over, and the missile sends the codes to instruct the other missiles to launch. Missiles telling missiles to launch missiles. Is there anything the cold war can't do?

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Consecutive posts merged

Or Dr. Strangelove. Actually precisely like that.

 

http://www2.english.uiuc.edu/cybercinema/bomb20.htm

[Mr Skeptic]

Well, one thing about this system, the retalitory strike wouldn't have to happen right away. Later might even be preferable. Whoever would have control of the red button could wait a while, maybe even a couple of weeks just to be sure, before launching.

 

Hm, but it would have to happen before the army could go about finding and disabling the remaining silos. Or finding a command missile and reprogramming it to doubly nuke Russia.

[Shadow]

They said the silo was deep underground, which means the person would have more than enough time to "press the button" from when the Americans opened the hatch.

[Moontanman]

Having grown up during the cold war I ca remember being terrified of the possibility of nuclear war. many of the movies of the time played up the horror of what it would be like after such a war, most of it was total bullshit but of course then we didn't know that. I can remember even as an adult watching the movie War Games breaking out into tears when the computer said "an interesting game, the only way to win is not to play" My sons couldn't under stand my emotional response but for some of us it was a huge part of growing up.