Eric Schlosser - Command and Control

That rate is about two times higher in India: According to the study, the rate of industrial accidents in the United States is 3,959 per 100,000 workers, and the rate in India is 8,763 per 100,000. Ibid., pp. 145, 147.

three times higher in Iran: The rate in Iran is 12,845 per 100,000. Ibid., p. 153.

four times higher in Pakistan: The rate in Pakistan is 15,809 per 100,000. Ibid., p. 148.

“A World Free of Nuclear Weapons”: George P. Shultz, William J. Perry, Henry A. Kissinger, and Sam Nunn, “A World Free of Nuclear Weapons,” Wall Street Journal , January 4, 2007.

“The world is now on the precipice”: Ibid.

the two nations that control about 90 percent of those weapons: Cited in Madeleine Albright and Igor Ivanov, “A New Agenda for U.S.-Russia Cooperation,” New York Times , December 30, 2012.

The campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons: For a fine account of today’s antinuclear movement, see Philip Taubman, The Partnership: Five Cold Warriors and Their Quest to Ban the Bomb (New York: HarperCollins, 2012). For a detailed look at how such disarmament might occur, see “Modernizing U.S. Nuclear Strategy, Force Structure and Posture,” Global Zero U.S. Nuclear Policy Commission, May 2012. And for a strongly contrary point of view, see Rebeccah Heindrichs and Baker Spring, “Deterrence and Nuclear Targeting in the 21st Century,” Backgrounder on Arms Control and Nonproliferation, The Heritage Foundation , November 30, 2012.

“Some argue that the spread of these weapons”: “Remarks by President Barack Obama, Hradcany Square, Prague, Czech Republic,” The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, April 5, 2009.

“Such fatalism is a deadly adversary”: Ibid.

“a world without nuclear weapons”: Ibid.

an average age of seventy-nine: Nunn was sixty-eight; Perry, eighty; Kissinger, eighty-three; and Shultz, eighty-six.

Bush’s counterforce strategy: For an analysis of how the Bush administration planned to use nuclear weapons, see Charles L. Glaser and Steve Fetter, “Counterforce Revisited: Assessing the Nuclear Posture Review’s New Missions,” International Security , vol. 30, no. 2 (Fall 2005), pp. 84–126.

“nuclear disarmament fantasy”: Harold Brown and John Deutch, “The Nuclear Disarmament Fantasy,” Wall Street Journal , November 19, 2007.

“Hope is not a policy”: Ibid.

In 2010 a group of high-ranking Air Force officials: James Wood Forsyth, Jr.; Colonel B. Chance Saltzman, USAF; and Gary Schaub, Jr., “Remembrance of Things Past: The Enduring Value of Nuclear Weapons,” Strategic Studies Quarterly, vol. 4, no. 1 (Spring 2010), p. 82.

almost 200 fewer weapons: A report by the two groups suggested that in the future the United States will need only five hundred nuclear weapons for deterrence. See Hans M. Kristensen, Robert S. Norris, and Ivan Oelrich, “From Counterforce to Minimal Deterrence: A New Nuclear Policy on the Path Toward Eliminating Nuclear Weapons,” Federation of American Scientists and the Natural Resources Defense Council, Occasional Paper No. 7, April 2009, p. 44.

the problems with a strategy of minimum deterrence: The morality of killing civilians as an act of vengeance — after their leaders launched a nuclear attack — has always been an awkward subject for deterrence theorists. In a recent book, the author Ron Rosenbaum questioned the ethics of a retaliatory nuclear strike and urged missile crews to disobey any order to launch: “Nothing justifies following orders for genocide.” For a provocative analysis of the issue, see John D. Steinbruner and Tyler Wigg-Stevenson, “Reconsidering the Morality of Deterrence,” CISSM Working Paper, Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland, University of Maryland, March 2012; and Ron Rosenbaum, How the End Begins: The Road to a Nuclear World War III (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011). The quote can be found on page 260.

“Acceptable Premature Probabilities for Nuclear Weapons,” Headquarters Field Command, Armed Forces Special Weapons Project, FC/10570136, October 1, 1957 (SECRET/RESTRICTRED DATA/declassified).

“Accidental War: Some Dangers in the 1960s,” Mershon Center for Education in National Security, Housmans (n.d.).

“Accident Environments,” T. D. Brumleve, Chairman, Task Group on Accident Environments, Sandia Laboratories, SCL-DR-69-86, January 1970 (SECRET/RESTRICTED DATA/declassified).

“Accidents and Incidents Involving Nuclear Weapons: Accidents and Incidents During the Period 1 July 1957 Through 31 March 1967,” Technical Letter 20-3, Defense Atomic Support Agency, October 15, 1967 (SECRET/RESTRICTED DATA/declassified).

“An Activated Barrier for Protection of Special Nuclear Materials in Vital Areas,” Ronald E. Timm, James E. Miranda, Donald L. Reigle, and Anthony D. Valente, Argonne National Laboraory, 1984.

“The Aftermath of a Single Nuclear Detonation by Accident or Sabotage: Some Problems Affecting U.S. Policy, Military Reactions, and Public Information,” Fred Charles Iklé with J. E. Hill, Research Memorandum, Project RAND, U.S. Air Force, Santa Monica, California, May 8, 1959, RM-2364 (SECRET/RESTRICTED DATA/declassified).

“Aggregate Nuclear Damage Assessment Techniques Applied to Western Europe,” H. Avrech and D. C. McGarvey, RAND Corporation, Memorandum RM-4466-ISA, Prepared for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense/International Security Affairs, June 1965 (FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY/declassified).

“AGM-69A SRAM Explosive Components Surveillance Program Summary Report and FY74 Service Life Estimate,” Charles E. Stanbery, et al., Aeronautical Systems Division, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, AD-A014 428, January 1975.

“Air Force Blue Ribbon Review of Nuclear Weapons Policies and Procedures,” Polly A. Peyer, Headquarters, United States Air Force, February 8, 2008.

“The Air Force Role in Five Crises, 1958–1965: Lebanon, Taiwan, Congo, Cuba, Dominican Republic,” Bernard C. Nalty, USAF Historical Division Liaison Office, June 1968 (TOP SECRET/declassified), NSA.

“The Air Force and Strategic Deterrence 1951–1960,” George F. Lemmer, USAF Historical Division Liaison Office, December 1967 (SECRET/FORMERLY RESTRICTED DATA/declassified), NSA.

“The Air Force and the Worldwide Military Command and Control System, 1961–1965 (U),” Thomas A. Sturm, USAF Historical Division Liaison Office, August 1966 (SECRET/declassified), NSA.

“Airpower and the Cult of the Offensive,” John R. Carter, CADRE Paper, College of Aerospace Doctrine, Research, and Education, Air University Press, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, October 1998.

“Alcohol & Drug Use in the Marine Corps in 1983,” Peter H. Stoloff and Renee K. Barnow, Center for Naval Analyses, CNR 90, Vol. 1, July 1984.

“Analytical Support for the Joint Chiefs of Staff: The WSEG Experience, 1948–1976,” John Ponturo, Institute for Defense Analyses, International and Social Studies Division, IDA Study S-507, July 1979.

“Assessing the Capabilities of Strategic Nuclear Forces: The Limits of Current Methods,” Bruce W. Bennett, N-1441-NA, RAND Corporation, June 1980.

“Assessment Report: Titan II LGM 25 C, Weapon Condition and Safety,” Prepared for the Senate Armed Services Committee and House Armed Services Committee, May 1980.

“Attack Warning: Better Management Required to Resolve NORAD Integration Deficiencies,” Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Defense, Committee on Appropriations, House of Representatives, United States General Accounting Office, July 1989.