Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of SafetyThe 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. “A devastatingly lucid and detailed new history of nuclear weapons in the U.S. Fascinating.” —Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine “Perilous and gripping . . . Schlosser skillfully weaves together an engrossing account of both the science and the politics of nuclear weapons safety.” —San Francisco Chronicle 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. |
Contents
Not Good | 3 |
Acceptable Risks | 147 |
The Optimum Mix | 175 |
Breaking In | 208 |
Decapitation | 245 |
The Brink | 276 |
An Abnormal Environment | 307 |
Balanced and Unbalanced | 337 |
The End | 433 |
Epilogue | 460 |
Acknowledgments | 486 |
New Wave | 501 |
Potential Hazards | 508 |
In Violation | 515 |
Bibliography | 583 |
612 | |
Other editions - View all
Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the ... Eric Schlosser Limited preview - 2013 |
Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the ... Eric Schlosser No preview available - 2014 |
Common terms and phrases
Air Force Base airborne alert aircraft airmen Alamos America's nuclear American Arkansas armed Army atomic bomb Atomic Energy ballistic missiles blast door Bob Peurifoy bombers Chiefs of Staff Childers civilian Cold War Command and Control command post control center core crew Curtis LeMay Damascus destroyed Devlin Eisenhower fire fuel vapor high explosives History hundred hydrogen bomb Iklé Joint Chiefs Jupiter missiles Kennedy Khrushchev killed later launch complex LeMay Little Rock Livingston Mark 28 Mazzaro McNamara miles military Minuteman NATO NORAD nuclear detonation nuclear war nuclear weapon safety nuclear weapons officers oxidizer Pentagon plane plutonium President PTS team Quoted in ibid radio RFHCO suit risk SAC headquarters SAC's Sandia secret SECRET/RESTRICTED DATA/declassified Secretary of Defense Sid King silo SIOP Soviet Union Strategic Air Command tank targets thermonuclear thought thousand Titan II told TOP SECRET/declassified truck United warhead warning Washington who'd World York