Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety is a 2013 nonfiction book by Eric Schlosser about the history of nuclear weapons systems in the United States. Incidents Schlosser discusses in the book include the 1980 Damascus Titan missile explosion and the 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash. It was a finalist for the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for History. A documentary film based on the book aired as an episode of The American Experience on PBS in early 2017.
A chilling account of the history of US nuclear weapons, that unfortunately leaves me wanting to hear more about the Soviet side of the story. This book also helps to put the history of computing and especially the development of computer networks into perspective.
This is an an important book. I think it should be read by the general public, but I hope that decision makers in government will read this book and take action on its finding. The book is based on information about the weapons programs that was declassified and gives a fuller picture about the dangers that even the top decision makers possessed at the time.
Nuclear weapons are devices of mass murder. We have all considered the dangers of nuclear war but this book covers the dangers of just keeping them. Did you know that nuclear weapons have accidentally fallen from planes transporting them? Have been lost in the sea? Have burnt and melted in airplane crashes? Guarded by single soldiers with a pistol? Been vulnerable to detonation by short circuits, accidental damage or a well placed gunshot?
Likewise, if two nations have nuclear weapons, the logical response is to …
This is an an important book. I think it should be read by the general public, but I hope that decision makers in government will read this book and take action on its finding. The book is based on information about the weapons programs that was declassified and gives a fuller picture about the dangers that even the top decision makers possessed at the time.
Nuclear weapons are devices of mass murder. We have all considered the dangers of nuclear war but this book covers the dangers of just keeping them. Did you know that nuclear weapons have accidentally fallen from planes transporting them? Have been lost in the sea? Have burnt and melted in airplane crashes? Guarded by single soldiers with a pistol? Been vulnerable to detonation by short circuits, accidental damage or a well placed gunshot?
Likewise, if two nations have nuclear weapons, the logical response is to automate the launch based on detection of an enemy launch in order to deter the enemy from launching a first strike. The US and the Soviets had many, if not weekly false alarms where the decision to retaliate or not was aborted at the last moment.
In short, even to stockpile nuclear weapons is prone with danger. They and their missiles need maintenance and replacement over time which is fraught with danger with little margin for error. Terrible accidents are inevitable.
It summary, I can only conclude we have been luckily to survive the last 50s and the thought of other countries going through the same dangerous lessons that must be learned is terrifying.
