Topic Explorer

The Topic Explorer uses the same search and topic filters for all of the different resources on this site. It is meant to allow easy cross-examination of different issues.

Topics

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Primers

Nuclear launch process: The nuclear launch process of the United States is a topic of high interest and importance but is also subject to considerable misunderstanding.

Documents

Date ▲	Title	File
1952-09-10	NSC, "Agreed Concepts Regarding Atomic Weapons"	PDF
1961-07-16	Atomic Stockpiles Memorandum	PDF
1963-08-31	DDRS, Comments on Department of Defense Draft Memorandum: Strategic Striking Forces	PDF
1964-12-01	DDRS, Briefing to the Gilpatric Committee by William J. Howard	PDF
1975	NSA, Categories of DOE designed PAL systems	PDF
1975-06	IDA, "The Evolution of U.S. Strategic Command and Control and Warning, 1945-1972"	PDF
1975-12-01	CRS, "Authority to order the use of nuclear weapons"	PDF
1985-01	The Command and Control of Nuclear War	PDF
1996-02-12	USJCS, "Nuclear Supplement to Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan For FY 1996"	PDF
2014-10-02	USAF, Air Force Instruction 13-550 ("Air Force Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications")	PDF
2015-05-19	USAF, Annex 3-72 Nuclear Operations	PDF
2017-11-14	Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing on Nuclear Weapons Authority	PDF

Bibliographies

Blair, Bruce G. The Logic of Accidental Nuclear War. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1993.

Blair, Bruce G. "Strengthening Checks on Presidential Nuclear Launch Authority." Arms Control Today 48, no. 1 (Jan/Feb 2018). https://www.armscontrol.org/sites/default/files/files/ACT/ACT_JanFeb18_Blair_Prepublication.pdf.

Conley, Jerome M. "Nuclear Command and Control in the Twenty-First Century: Trends, Disparities, and the Impact on Stability." In Debating 21st Century Nuclear Issues, edited by Owen Price and Jenifer Mackby, 226-250. Washington, D.C.: Center for International and Strategic Studies, 2007. https://www.csis.org/analysis/debating-21st-century-nuclear-issues.

Ellsberg, Daniel. The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner. New York: Bloomsbury, 2017.

Grossman, Elaine. "How Putin Might Yank Away Trump’s Control Over America’s Nuclear Weapons." War is Boring. July 3, 2017. https://warisboring.com/how-putin-might-yank-away-trumps-control-over-americas-nuclear-weapons/.

Hering, Harold. "Nukes." Interview with Latif Nasser. Radiolab. Podcast audio, April 7, 2017. https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/nukes.

Lewis, Jeffrey. "Our Nuclear Procedures Are Crazier Than Trump." Foreign Policy. August 5, 2016. https://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/05/our-nuclear-procedures-are-crazier-than-trump/.

Ludacer, Rob. "Here's how easy it is for the US president to launch a nuclear weapon." Business Insider. November 14, 2018. https://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-bomb-launch-procedure-us-government-president-2017-11.

MacDonald, Eryn. "Whose Finger Is on the Button? Nuclear Launch Authority in the United States and Other Nations." Union of Concerned Scientists. October, 2017. https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2017/11/Launch-Authority.pdf.

Mecklin, John. "Duke’s Peter Feaver on the president and US nuclear command and control." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. November 30, 2017. https://thebulletin.org/2017/11/dukes-peter-feaver-on-the-president-and-us-nuclear-command-and-control/.

Podvig, Pavel. "Risks of Nuclear Command and Control Accidents." In Understanding Nuclear Risks, edited by John Borrie, Tim Caughley, and Wilfred Wan, 53-59. Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), 2017. http://www.unidir.org/files/publications/pdfs/understanding-nuclear-weapon-risks-en-676.pdf.

Rosenbaum, Ron. "An Unsung Hero of the Nuclear Age: Maj. Harold Hering and the forbidden question that cost him his career." Slate, February 28, 2011. http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_spectator/2011/02/an_unsung_hero_of_the_nuclear_age.single.html.

Rubel, John H. Doomsday Delayed: USAF Strategic Weapons Doctrine and SIOP-62, 1959-1962. Lanham, Maryland: Hamilton Books, 2008.

Woolf, Amy F. Command and Control of Nuclear Forces. Defense Primer 7-5700. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, 2016. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/IF10521.pdf.