Eric Schlosser - Command and Control

Здесь есть возможность читать онлайн «Eric Schlosser - Command and Control» весь текст электронной книги совершенно бесплатно (целиком полную версию без сокращений). В некоторых случаях можно слушать аудио, скачать через торрент в формате fb2 и присутствует краткое содержание. Город: New York, Год выпуска: 2013, ISBN: 2013, Издательство: Penguin Press, Жанр: История, military_history, military_weapon, Политика, Публицистика, на английском языке. Описание произведения, (предисловие) а так же отзывы посетителей доступны на портале библиотеки ЛибКат.

Command and Control: краткое содержание, описание и аннотация

Предлагаем к чтению аннотацию, описание, краткое содержание или предисловие (зависит от того, что написал сам автор книги «Command and Control»). Если вы не нашли необходимую информацию о книге — напишите в комментариях, мы постараемся отыскать её.

The New Yorker “Excellent… hair-raising
is how nonfiction should be written.” (Louis Menand)
Time
“A devastatingly lucid and detailed new history of nuclear weapons in the U.S…. fascinating.” (Lev Grossman)
Financial Times
“So incontrovertibly right and so damnably readable… a work with the multilayered density of an ambitiously conceived novel… Schlosser has done what journalism does at its best."
Los Angeles Times
“Deeply reported, deeply frightening… a techno-thriller of the first order.” Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America’s nuclear arsenal. A ground-breaking account of accidents, near-misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs,
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.
Written with the vibrancy of a first-rate thriller,
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, policymakers, 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 men who designed and routinely handled nuclear weapons,
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,
is a tour de force of investigative journalism, an eye-opening look at the dangers of America’s nuclear age.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=h_ZvrSePzZY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2wR11pGsYk

Command and Control — читать онлайн бесплатно полную книгу (весь текст) целиком

Ниже представлен текст книги, разбитый по страницам. Система сохранения места последней прочитанной страницы, позволяет с удобством читать онлайн бесплатно книгу «Command and Control», без необходимости каждый раз заново искать на чём Вы остановились. Поставьте закладку, и сможете в любой момент перейти на страницу, на которой закончили чтение.

Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

“Nobody wins a suicide pact”: “Summary of Major Strategic Considerations for the 1960–70 Era,” CNO Personal Letter No. 5, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, July 30, 1958, NSA, p. 1.

“the public mind”… “the professional military mind”: “The Operational Side of Air Offense,” remarks by General Curtis E. LeMay to the USAF Scientific Advisory Board, at Patrick Air Force Base, May 21, 1957 (TOP SECRET/declassified), NSA, p. 2.

“the most humane method of waging war”: “The Air Force and Strategic Deterrence 1951–1960,” George F. Lemmer, USAF Historical Division Liaison Office, December 1967, (SECRET/RESTRICTED DATA/declassified), NSA, p. 57.

“weapons must be delivered with either very high accuracy”: “Operational Side of Air Offense,” p. 4.

a hydrogen bomb with a yield of 60 megatons: LeMay argued that such a bomb would have enormous value as a deterrent — and, if used, could wipe out several targets at once. He and General Power wanted to equip SAC’s B-52s with these Class A weapons. But Eisenhower refused to test or build them. See “History of the Strategic Air Command, 1 January 1958 — 30 June 1958,” pp. 85–88.

Until 1957 the Strategic Air Command refused to share: See Ball and Richelson, Strategic Nuclear Targeting , p. 50.

hundreds of “time over target” conflicts: See Wainstein, et al., “Evolution of U.S. Command and Control,” p. 182.

“atomic coordination machinery”: See ibid., p. 179.

“It was fatuous to think that the U.S.”: Quoted in Richard M. Leighton, Strategy, Money, and the New Look, 1953–1956 (Washington, D.C.: Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense, 2001), p. 663.

“an all-out strike on the Soviet Union”: The quote is Kistiakowsky’s paraphrase of what Eisenhower said. See Kistiakowsky, A Scientist at the White House , p. 400.

the “optimum mix”: For the origins of the term, see Desmond Ball, “The Development of the SIOP, 1960–1983,” in Ball and Richelson, Strategic Nuclear Targeting , p. 61.

“atomic operations must be pre-planned”: See “Target Coordination and Associated Problems,” memorandum from General Nathan F. Twining, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, to Neil H. McElroy, Secretary of Defense, JSC 2056/131, August 17, 1959 (TOP SECRET/declassified), NSA, p. 1147.

“exactly the same techniques”: See “Conversation Between Admiral Arleigh Burke, Chief of Naval Operations, and William B. Franke, Secretary of the Navy,” transcript, August 12, 1960 (TOP SECRET/declassified), NSA, p. 17. It is not clear who recorded the conversation — or whether Burke knew the conversation was being taped.

“The systems will be laid”: Ibid., p. 8.

“The grooves will be dug”: Ibid.

“This whole thing has to be”: Quoted in Ball and Richelson, Strategic Nuclear Targeting , p. 54.

as rational, impersonal, and automated as possible: My account of the SIOP’s creation is largely based on “Development of the SIOP”; Scott C. Sagan, “SIOP-62: The Nuclear War Plan Briefing to President Kennedy,” International Security , vol. 12, no. 1 (Summer 1987), pp. 22–51; “SIOP-62 Briefing: The JCS Single Integrated Operational Plan—1962 (SIOP-62), (TOP SECRET/declassified), Ibid., pp. 41–51; “History of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff: Background and Preparation of SIOP-62,” History and Research Division, Headquarters, Strategic Air Command, 1963 (TOP SECRET/declassified), NSA; “History of the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff: Preparation of SIOP-63,” History and Research Division, Headquarters, Strategic Air Command, January 1964 (TOP SECRET/declassified), NSA; and “Strategic Air Planning and Berlin (Kaysen Study),” memorandum for General Maxwell Taylor, Military Representative to the President, from Carl Kaysen, Special Assistant to McGeorge Bundy, National Security Adviser , September 5, 1961 (TOP SECRET/declassified), NSA.

the Air Force’s Bombing Encyclopedia: For the origins and the nomenclature of this unusual reference book, see Lynn Eden, Whole World on Fire: Organizations, Knowledge & Nuclear Weapons Devastation (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004), pp. 107–9.

a compendium of more than eighty thousand potential targets: Cited in “SIOP-62 Briefing,” p. 44.

twelve thousand candidates in the Soviet Union, the Eastern bloc: Cited in “Preparation of SIOP-63,” p. 18.

A “target weighing system”: See “Background and Preparation of SIOP-62,” p. 19.

total value of five million points: Cited in “Strategic Air Planning and Berlin,” Annex B, p. 2.

the “clobber factor”: See “Preparation of SIOP-63,” p. 34.

the odds of a target being destroyed… at least 75 percent: Cited in “Strategic Air Planning and Berlin,” Annex B, p. 2.

a Jupiter missile, a Titan missile, an Atlas missile: See ibid., p. 4.

The “alert force”… the “full force”: Ibid.

“Tactics programmed for the SIOP”: “SIOP-62 Briefing,” p. 48.

attack the Soviet Union “front-to-rear”: For a description of the “‘front-to-rear’ policy,” see “Air Force and Strategic Deterrence,” p. 56.

a tactic called “bomb as you go”: See “SIOP-62 Briefing,” p. 48.

nuclear weapons solely for city busting: The quote is from Air Marshal Sir George Mills, who made clear in 1955 that the British much preferred destroying “morale targets” — Soviet cities, not air fields. “Our aim in retaliation,” Mills wrote, “is to hit him where it really hurts.” See Ken Young, “A Most Special Relationship: The Origins of Anglo-American Nuclear Strike Planning,” Journal of Cold War Studies , vol. 9, no. 2, 2007, pp. 5–31. The quotes are from pages 11 and 24.

three air bases, six air defense targets, and forty-eight cities: Cited in ibid., p. 27.

“unnecessary and undesirable overkill”: Quoted in Ball and Richelson, Strategic Nuclear Targeting, p. 55.

enough “megatons to kill 4 and 5 times over”: Quoted in Ibid.

“just one whack — not ten whacks”: Quoted in ibid., p. 56.

“I believe that the presently developed SIOP”: “Annex: Extract from Memorandum for the President from the Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, dated 25 November 1960,” in “Note by the Secretaries to the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Strategic Target Planning,” January 27, 1961 (TOP SECRET/declassified), NSA, p. 1913.

“a 100 percent pulverization of the Soviet Union”: Quoted in “Discussion at the 387th Meeting of the National Security Council, Thursday, November 20, 1958” (TOP SECRET/declassified), NSA, p. 5.

“There was obviously a limit”: Ibid., p. 5.

3,729 targets: …more than 1,000 ground zeros: Cited in “Strategic Air Planning and Berlin,” Annex B, p. 2.

3,423 nuclear weapons: Ibid., p. 4.

About 80 percent were military targets: Cited in “SIOP-62 Briefing,” p. 50.

295 were in the Soviet Union and 78 in China: See “Strategic Air Planning and Berlin,” Annex B, p. 2.

54 percent of the Soviet Union’s population and about 16 percent of China’s: See Ibid., Annex A, p. 2; Annex B, p. 12.

roughly 220 million people: The population of the Soviet Union was about 210 million at the time; the population of China about 682 million.

Eisenhower agreed to let high-ranking commanders decide: For the best account of how the military gained the authority to initiate the use of nuclear weapons, see Roman, “Ike’s Hair-Trigger,” pp. 121–164.

Читать дальше
Тёмная тема
Сбросить

Интервал:

Закладка:

Сделать

Похожие книги на «Command and Control»

Представляем Вашему вниманию похожие книги на «Command and Control» списком для выбора. Мы отобрали схожую по названию и смыслу литературу в надежде предоставить читателям больше вариантов отыскать новые, интересные, ещё непрочитанные произведения.


Отзывы о книге «Command and Control»

Обсуждение, отзывы о книге «Command and Control» и просто собственные мнения читателей. Оставьте ваши комментарии, напишите, что Вы думаете о произведении, его смысле или главных героях. Укажите что конкретно понравилось, а что нет, и почему Вы так считаете.

x