On June 3, 1980, U.S. Command posts received a warning that the Soviet Union had launched a nuclear strike. It is believed that multiple launch crews for Minuteman missiles were given launch warnings, and bomber crews began manning their aircraft. What was bizarre, however, which clued operators in to it was a false alarm, is that there screens were showing 2, 0, then 200 incoming missiles. It turned out to be a faulty computer chip error which caused the panic, but it solidified the very short amount of time that the President has to make a retaliatory strike decision.
Originally, I filed a FOIA request to multiple agencies, most of which denied documents existed. Then, the Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff responded that documents may exist at the National Archives.
My request was refiled there, and nearly two years later, I received a small amount of records pertaining to the incident. Another year thereafter, I received a second response from the National Archives, which were the final documents pertaining to this request. Both releases are available below.
They are available below.
Follow The Black Vault on Social Media:
This post was published on April 26, 2019 5:00 am
Background Welcome to the FBI Files on Historical Figures & Groups archive at The Black…
Background Movements for civil rights were a worldwide series of political movements for equality before…
A 386-page dossier reportedly compiled by the Russian government detailing its findings on the assassination…
(Note: Photo graphic above is for illustrative purposes, and not a representation of actual holdings…
The FBI’s file on late-night radio host Art Bell has expanded with the release of…
On December 17, 2022, a Cessna 172 pilot approaching Tucson, Arizona, reported an unusual airborne…