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Science/Tech See other Science/Tech Articles Title: The One Nuclear Threat That Most People Aren’t Aware Of These days we are all well aware that nuclear technology provides plenty of ways to disrupt our society. There are of course, an abundance of nuclear missiles in the world today, as well suitcase nukes and dirty bombs. There is also the ever looming possibility of a meltdown occurring in a nuclear power plant. However, there is one nuclear threat that very few people are aware of, and we have the Russians to thank for it. In short, they have a bona fide doomsday machine. No, this isnt science fiction. At first glance it probably doesnt sound very exotic, since this machine delivers ordinary nuclear weapons. Whats so unique about it, is the conditions that could cause it to activate. The Russians refer to it as the Dead Hand, and it operates similarly to the fictional doomsday device from Dr. Strangelove. Developed in the 1980s, the Dead Hand is a system designed to ensure that no matter what happens during a nuclear attack, the Soviets would always be able to strike back. They feared that the United States would be able to decapitate their leadership with a preemptive nuclear strike, so they built an automated nuclear command system that requires very little human input. The Dead Hand is a computer system that is connected to a network of seismic, radiological, and air pressure sensors distributed throughout the country, as well as the governments communication infrastructure. If the Dead Hand detects a nuclear blast on Russian soil, then it will check to see if communications are still open with the upper echelons of the Russian government. If that connection is ever severed, (say by a nuclear attack against the Kremlin) the computer will initiate the launch of every remaining nuclear missile in Russias arsenal. Whats so scary about this system, is that it has little human input. In any nuclear arsenal, there are typically multiple layers of politicians and military officials that a launch order has to pass through. If the Dead Hand however, decides that its time to launch a nuclear assault against the US, then that authority is passed to a handful of midranking officers hunkered down in a bunker. Its widely believed that this system is still in operation to this day, and believe it or not, many of our governments leaders are unaware of its existence. The technical name was Perimeter, but some called it Mertvaya Ruka, or Dead Hand. It was built 25 years ago and remained a closely guarded secret. With the demise of the USSR, word of the system did leak out, but few people seemed to notice. In fact, though Yarynich and a former Minuteman launch officer named Bruce Blair have been writing about Perimeter since 1993 in numerous books and newspaper articles, its existence has not penetrated the public mind or the corridors of power. The Russians still wont discuss it, and Americans at the highest levelsincluding former top officials at the State Department and White Housesay theyve never heard of it. When I recently told former CIA director James Woolsey that the USSR had built a doomsday device, his eyes grew cold. I hope to God the Soviets were more sensible than that. They werent. That secrecy should be alarming, because we dont have a very good idea about what could trip up this aging system. The very existence of the human race is in the hands of a 31-year-old computer and a few Russian officers, and that leaves a lot of scary questions unanswered. Is this aging computer system still reliable? How about the sensors that its connected to? Can the select few people who man it be trusted to make the right decisions? Under the right conditions, could the Dead Hand initiate an accidental nuclear strike? If say a dirty bomb temporarily severed communications with the Dead Hand, would it know what really happened? Or would it just sense the radiation and assume the worst? What about an asteroid, or a solar flare? We dont know if all the sensors need to be giving readings that are consistent with a nuclear attack, or if they only need to identify a handful of conditions. We dont know if the officers who check on the system are going to simply follow the computers instructions, or if they will rely on their own judgement. Theres a lot of scary stuff that we dont know about the Dead Hand. It just goes to show even though humans are far too scared and reasonable to launch a nuclear attack against another nuclear armed nation, the possibility of such a conflict happening accidentally is always present. Joshua Krause was born and raised in the Bay Area. He is a writer and researcher focused on principles of self-sufficiency and liberty at Ready Nutrition. You can follow Joshuas work at our Facebook page or on his personal Twitter. Joshuas website is Strange Danger Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top Page Up Full Thread Page Down Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Ada (#0)
That wouldn't destroy the human race. Of course the USA will be completely destroyed by several thousand nuclear bombs. Perhaps a few living in remote areas of Alaska would survive and a few thousand living in bomb shelters would live for a while. In two months the radiation would be low enough to survive but, outside of the bomb shelters, there would be no food and in most areas, no safe drinking water. Therefore, even most living in bomb shelters would die without food and water and you cannot walk a 1,000 miles without food and water. Of course if the USA disappears it is no big deal. After all, 300 years ago, there was no USA and the world did just fine without it.
If there is ever a global thermonuclear war, the entire atmosphere would be contaminated and would rain down highly radioactive particles across the planet. The only thing that'd survive would be cockroaches, and perhaps some deep sea fish.
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