Eric Schlosser - Command and Control

Titan II assignment, xv, 8, 18–20

Titan II explosion, 395–96, 400

Media, and Titan II accident, 418–20, 430–32

Melgard, Robert B., Lieutenant Colonel, 462

Mercer, Benny, 429

Messinger, Larry G., Major, 315

Meyer, Donald, 349

Meyer, Nicholas, 449

Mike (hydrogen bomb), 129, 131, 134, 137, 139

Miklaszewski, Jim, 431

Military defense of U.S. See U.S. military defenses; specific armed forces

Military Airlift Command, 107

Military-industrial complex, 199

Mills, Wilbur D., 19

Mineral oil, explosion prevention with, 107

Mine Safety Appliance (MSA) Company, vapor-detection system, xxi, 33, 57, 59

Minimum deterrence, 362–63, 483–84

Minuteman missiles

and accident risk, 299–301, 311–12, 371, 473–75

development of, 182, 223

mass production of, 270–71

multiple warheads, adding to, 353

propellants of, 210, 223, 266

Missile Alarm Response Team (MART), 60

function of, xx, 229, 230

at Titan II accident site, 229

Missile Defense Alarm System, 303

Missile gap, 176, 249–50, 269–71, 284

Missile launch complexes

concurrency practice, 219–20

locations of, 219–20

underground, first, 222

Missile Potential Hazard Net

malfunction of, 210

Titan II accident communication, 59–60, 209–10, 212–13, 218

Missile Potential Hazard Team, and Titan II accident, 59, 66–67, 102–3, 210, 211, 214, 235–36

Missiles. See also Antiaircraft missiles; Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM); Intermediate-range missiles; Short-Range Attack Missiles (SRAMs); individual weapons

Atlas, 222

cruise, 376, 441

design flaws, difficulty detecting, 220

Jupiter, 225

launch complexes for. See Missile launch complexes

with multiple warheads, 352–53, 365

Peacemaker, 441, 444

Pershing II, 441–42, 447–51

Redstone, 221, 225

Snark as first, 220–21

Titan I, 182

Titan II, 223–27

trajectory, physics of, 223

V-2, 182, 225

Mobile Fire Teams (MFTs)

role of, xxi

at Titan II accident site, 229

Mock, John C., Technical Sergeant, 345

Moe, Gordon, 454–55

Mondale, Walter, 115

informed about Titan II accident, 386

Titan II accident briefing, 424, 429

Monsanto Chemical Company, 100

Montanus, Stephen, Lieutenant, 315–16

Moral Majority, 14

Morgenstern, Oskar, 170–71

Morris, James L., Colonel

as maintenance chief, xvi

plan to save missile, 118, 217

Titan II accident site, arrival at, 108–10

Titan II explosion, 397–400, 402

and Titan II response plan, 102–3, 109–10, 211, 238–39

waiting for orders, 227–28, 237

Moser, John T., Colonel

biographical information, 209, 210, 351

evacuation order from, 214–15

on number of Titan II accidents, 385

position of, xvi, 102, 208

Titan II accident site, arrival at, 208–10

Titan II, lack of experience with, 210–11, 239

Titan II response plan presented by, 234, 238–40

Moses, Franklin, Sargeant, 420

Moss, Robert, 14

Mowles, Donald G., 230–31

Moynihan, Daniel Patrick, 466

Mueller, Donald P., Captain

position of, xvi, 228

at Titan II accident site, 228, 402, 403, 408

Multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles (MIRVs), xxi, 352

Murrow, Edward R., 74, 156

Mutually assured destruction (MAD), xx, 302, 352

MX missiles, 364–65, 441

Nagasaki, atomic bombing of, 53–55

Namu island, 149

National Deep Underground Command Center, 274

National Emergency Airborne Command Post, 273–74, 355–56, 366

National Emergency Airborne Command Post Afloat, 273–74

National Military Command Center, 273

National security information, hiding. See Secrecy

National Strategic Response Plans, 457

National Strategic Target List, 204

Nation-killing concept, 83

Naval Explosive Ordnance Disposal School, 415

Nazi Germany, 44–45, 77

rocket scientists, U.S. recruitment, 182

Nedelin, Mitrofan Ivanovich, Marshal, 269–70

Neutrons, nuclear reaction, 39, 40, 128

Newton, Isaac, 223

Nichols, Kenneth D., General, 125–26, 158

Nike antiaircraft missiles, 151, 162, 349

9/11 Commission Report, 476

Nitrogen tetroxide

boiling point, 25

dangers to humans, 4–5, 436

Nitze, Paul H., 284–85

Nixon, Richard M.

mental instability of, 359–60

nuclear attack, diplomatic use of, 358–59

secretary of state actions. See Kissinger, Henry A.

Nocities strategy, 287–88, 302

Normal Accidents (Perrow), 460–61, 464

Normal accident theory, 461–63

Norstad, Lauris, General, 257–58, 279, 285

North American Air Defense Command (NORAD), xxi, 253–54

false warning of, 365–68

goal of, 152

North Atlantic Treaty, 86

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

bunker/shelter of, 156

and Cold War, 130

command-and-control problems of, 255–56

goal of, xxi

nuclear weapons site dangers, 221–22, 257–65, 279, 290, 293–96, 303, 373, 462

nuclear weapons, Eisenhower delivery to, 183–84, 258, 260

storage sites (2013), 476

North Korea, nuclear weapons of (2013), 477–78

Notch, The (command post), 273

Nuclear Emergency Search Team (NEST), 425

Nuclear fusion, and H-bomb, xx

Nuclear power plant accidents, 113, 452, 460

Nuclear reaction

fission, 38–40, 122

thermonuclear fusion, 122–23

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)

function of, xxi

nuclear accidents, secrecy about, 113

Nuclear weapons. See also Missiles; specific weapons by name

accidents related to. See Accidents

on battlefield. See Tactical weapons

control and abolition of. See Arms control; Disarmament movement

defense contractors, 100, 182, 218

early bombs. See Atomic bomb; Los Alamos, New Mexico; Manhattan Project; Sandia Laboratory

hydrogen bomb, 122–29, 133–34

nuclear attack order. See Command and control

number worldwide (2013), 476–77

Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW), 470

safety issues. See Accident prevention; Accident risks

sealed-pit weapons, 161–66

of Soviet Union. See Soviet Union

storage of. See Nuclear weapons storage

U.S. government secrecy. See Secrecy

Nuclear Weapons and Foreign Policy (Kissinger), 200

Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, 446

Nuclear weapons storage, 157–60

AEC sites, 88, 100, 125–26, 157

igloos, 159

multiple locations, rationale for, 157–58

NATO sites (2013), 476

nuclear core, separate storage, 157–59, 181

SAC, proximity to, 100, 158–59

Nunn, Sam, 481–82

Obama, Barack

Bin Laden raid, 475–76

on nuclear weapons end, 482

Odom, William E., General, 361–62, 367–68

Ofstie, Ralph A., Rear Admiral, 87

Ogden Air Logistics Center (Utah), Titan II accident communication, 59–60, 209–10

O’Keefe, Bernard J., 52–53, 137–39

Omaha SAC command post

LeMay improvements to, 92–94

Titan II, lack of experience with, 213

Titan II accident communication, 59, 209–10, 218

Titan II response plan approval, 118, 212, 217, 227, 233–34

vice commander of, xvi, 212

One-point safety, 163–64, 172, 197–98, 322–23

One World or None , 74–75

“On the Risk of an Accidental or Unauthorized Nuclear Detonation,” 190–96

Operation Alert (1955), 143–44