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Though the threat of worldwide nuclear annihilation has lessened somewhat since the end of the Cold War, the US government's nuclear plans have gotten more sophisticated. Focus has altered from a large-scale exchange of thousands of missiles to small-scale incidents, and in response, arrangements have shifted more towards detection, prevention, and the aftermath.
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Though the threat of worldwide nuclear annihilation has lessened somewhat since the Cold War
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the U.S. government's nuclear response plans have actually gotten more sophisticated. And while some of those plans may seem excessive when faced with the possibility of nuclear conflict
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every option must be explored. So, today we're going to take a look at everything the U.S. government has planned for surviving a nuclear attack
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Okay, make sure you're at a safe distance, because we're about to trigger a blast of weird history
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Within the United States' national response framework, there are 15 national response plans
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that run the gamut from nuclear and biological incidents to food contamination and cyber incursions
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They lay out everything from emergency planning to military counter-response. The U.S.'s current number one response plan in case of a nuclear event is called National
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Response Scenario Number One, which may be a little on the nose, but maybe we don't need
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a cool code name during an atomic emergency. According to FEMA documentation, Scenario One is one of the most likely mass disasters
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and it is planned around the assumption that a 10-kiloton nuclear device would be detonated
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in a densely populated American city. In this scenario, high levels of radiation would make an immediate response at ground
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zero impossible, making it a significant concern for first responders. Although it kind of sounds
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like high levels of radiation would be a significant concern for everyone. In the event of a large-scale
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crisis in a populated area, hundreds of groups and agencies, all of which have their separate
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chains of command, would be involved with disaster response. You can imagine what trying to organize
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that must be like. It would be like herding cats in the middle of a nuclear disaster. And the first
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36 hours after an atomic event are critical. A quick response could make all the difference
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To that end, the Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise, also known as FEMS, was founded. In the event of a crisis, FEMS would coordinate between a dozen
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major government agencies, including the CDC, DOD, VA, and FDA. And while FEMS is not involved in any
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military or state-level response, it is solely responsible for the medical response to any
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substantial threat to public health. The agency is constantly at work developing plans for
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disasters, conducting research on threats to civilian public health, and setting annual
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expectations for other departments. Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency is responsible for communicating with the general public in the event of a nuclear incident. That's a weird pick
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The EPA is the government organization everyone seems to listen to the least
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The EPA is tasked with answering the public's questions, and they've got a set of talking
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points ready to go in case of just such an event Their scripts run the gamut from helpful answers about water food and safety to warnings like use text messaging Don go to the hospital police stations or fire stations
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unless you have a medical emergency. Don't abandon your car, don't go near the release site
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and do not feed your mogwai after midnight. Part of the Cold War paranoia of the 50s was a craze for nuclear preparedness
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The Eisenhower administration encouraged all citizens to stockpile a week's worth of simple
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provisions as part of a campaign called Grandma's Pantry. But as the conflict continued to escalate
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it became clear that the notion of getting through the aftermath of a nuclear attack on a
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week's supply of canned goods might have been a little optimistic. In response, the government
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began to develop the all-purpose survival cracker. Made from bulgur, these crackers were to be eaten
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in tiny 125-calorie pieces, along with a small red or yellow hard candy, referred to as a
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carbohydrate supplement. Just like mom used to make. As yummy as that sounds, the government
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discontinued production in the 60s, but boxes can still be found. There was even an attempt to
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distribute the remaining crackers as disaster relief in the late 70s, but they were already
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spoiled and inedible. Well, more inedible, anyway. The Strategic National Stockpile, or SNS
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is a collection of medications stored in case of a nuclear-style disaster
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Ah, so that's where all the Adderall went. Given the Cold War ended in 1991, you might be surprised to learn the SNS was only created
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in 1999, possibly in response to the new radicals. It was hard not to see the doomsday writing on the wall when that song refused to get
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off the radio. But the SNS was actually created in anticipation of future crisis-level events
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Various incidents in 2001, including 9-11 and the anthrax scare, caused Congress to pass major legislation, which upgraded the stockpile's budget and inventory
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and its ability to respond to threats quickly. The stockpile is spread out between a number of
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undisclosed warehouses all across the United States, just waiting for the next disaster
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or to be liberated by a team of supercriminals. Among the dozens of aides, staffers, advisors, and hype men who surround the president when he
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travels, there is one person with a special job. That job is to carry a small black satchel
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Inside is a complicated communications device used to verify the president's identity
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and allow them to communicate with the Pentagon and authorize nuclear strikes
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It's called the nuclear football. And if you watched a lot of Tom Clancy-type thrillers
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with your dad growing up, you've probably heard of it before. Despite what many believe, no big red button launches the nukes
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Any launch request must be routed through the Pentagon. where a complicated series of authentications then take place But once those authentications are confirmed those atomic birds start flying There have been those who question the unilateral authority of the president in sanctioning the use of nuclear weapons
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going all the way back to the Cold War. But the policy has yet to change. No president has been in a hurry to get rid of that particular perk
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A 20 kiloton detonation demolished Nagasaki at the end of World War II
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By 1960, the Single Integrated Operational Plan, a.k.a. SIOP, called for a total of 1,706
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nuclear devices to be aimed at 725 targets in the USSR, China, and their allied nations
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If the U.S. ever faced a nuclear conflict against the USSR, the plan was to detonate
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three 80-kiloton devices per every city the size of Nagasaki or larger
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Furthermore, the 1960 plan targeted a list of Sino-Soviet communist countries, regardless of if they were officially at war with the United States
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In other words, be careful of who you cozy up to, geopolitically speaking, of course
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As many Americans know from as early as grade school, if the president dies, is removed from office
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or otherwise becomes incapable of doing the job, the vice president takes control
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But what if both the president and vice president are wiped out by the same event
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such as a nuclear blast? In that case, the presidency passes to the Speaker of the House before continuing down the line
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That official line of succession includes a total of 18 people and goes all the way down to the Secretary of Homeland Security
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In the extremely unlikely event that all 18 of those people have been wiped out
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the next president is presumably chosen by dodgeball tournament. Long before working together as members of George W. Bush's cabinet
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Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were tasked by the Reagan administration with developing
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a detailed plan for the survival of US leadership in the event of a nuclear conflict with the
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Soviet Union. The current line of succession was deemed insufficient, so Cheney and Rumsfeld helped
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to develop a comprehensive plan to ensure a chain of command survived. While not much is known of the plan, the broad outline is that three teams would be flown
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to separate bunkers around the country. Each team would include a high-ranking cabinet member, defense officials, state officials
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and CIA representatives, and would have everything they needed to take control of military
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civilian response to the crisis. While it can't be totally certain, it is likely that there are hidden emergency bunkers all
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around the country. We can't be certain because if the public knew the locations of the hidden bunkers
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they wouldn't be hidden anymore, which would defeat the purpose. However, there are a few that have become public knowledge
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The most well-known of these is Raven Rock in southern Pennsylvania. It sounds like a He-Man playset, but it's actually a complex of office buildings built
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on enormous shock-absorbing springs within a hollowed-out mountain. So yeah it kind of sounds like a He playset The massive structure is essentially a small city and it contains a fire department police department and medical facilities In the early days of the nuclear era nuclear devices were nowhere near as destructive
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as they are now. It wasn't totally unreasonable to think that some people caught in the blast could be saved
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and the government drafted plans that focused on preserving as much life as possible
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But as the devices grew more destructive and began to yield 25 megatons, substantially more
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than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the planners refocused on saving the highest-ranking officials and ensuring the continuity of governance
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in the event of a disaster. Everybody else is kind of on their own, hence all the secret bunkers
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In January of 2018, Hawaiian residents received an alarming text message that read
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Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill
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Thankfully, while it was indeed not a drill, the text wasn't accurate either
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An employee of Hawaii's emergency management agency had accidentally triggered the message
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Whoopsie. Kind of feels like whatever button sends that message should be pretty clearly labeled
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But nobody who received that message had any idea. To them, it looked like the US government had just told everyone in Hawaii to kiss their butts goodbye
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Turns out, the United States has a network of satellites monitoring the Pacific Ocean for potential ballistic threats 24 hours a day
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and the erroneous message was part of that system. The U.S. Pacific Command is capable of detecting ranged ballistic missiles
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which gives the military valuable time to both attempt to intercept the rockets and prepare for impact
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Hopefully, they don't send any more accidental messages. You only get so many false alarms until your early warning system stops warning anyone
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American children of the 1950s may remember watching a cartoon at school
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starring a talking turtle named Bert, who taught children to duck and cover
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in case of a nuclear blast. The film was produced by the Federal Civil Defense Agency
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and was accompanied by short comics and other Bert-themed merchandise. Or would that be Bert-chindice
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If you think the idea of ducking and covering in response to an atomic attack sounds dumb
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well, you're not alone. Even at the time, many mocked the idea of duck and cover
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as a useful strategy during a nuclear blast. But the advice has made a comeback
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So to each their own? Obviously, ducking and covering won't do you any good
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if you're caught in the direct blast range of a nuclear device. The only real advice in that scenario is smoke them if you got them
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But duck and cover is good advice for those outside the blast radius to avoid shockwaves and flying debris
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In the wake of rising tension between nuclear powers in 2011, the Obama administration even released a planning document
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encouraging local agencies to educate their citizens on duck and cover, once again with the help of a cartoon turtle
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Come on, let that turtle retire. Hasn't he seen enough
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