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.

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Primers

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Documents

Date ▲	Title	File
1958-10-15	Ikle (RAND), "On the Risk of an Accidental or Unauthorized Nuclear Detonation"	URL
1961-07-16	Atomic Stockpiles Memorandum	PDF
1962-06-2	NSA, Permissive Links for Nuclear Weapons in NATO Memorandum No. 160	PDF
1963-03-22	NSA, Assignment of Highest National Priority to Project PAL (Permissive Links for Nuclear Weapons in NATO)	PDF
1963-05-29	NSA, Secret Memorandum from Jerome Bert Wiesner, Science Adviser to President Kennedy	PDF
1963-08-10	NSA, Permissive Link for Minuteman	PDF
1963-11-13	NSA, National Security Action Memorandum No. 272	PDF
1964-07-22	DDRS, Letter to McGeorge Bundy from the Deputy Secretary of Defense regarding the modified installation of permissive action link (PAL) devices on various weapons systems.	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
1978-02	OASOD, "History of the Custody and Deployment of Nuclear Weapons, July 1945 through September 1977"	PDF

Bibliographies

Caldwell, Dan. "Permissive action links: A description and proposal." Survival 29, no. 3 (May 1987): 224-238.

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.

Curry, Dan. Always/Never: The Quest for Safety, Control & Survivability. Documentary. Sandia National Laboratories, 2010.

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

Feaver, Peter D. "Command and Control in Emerging Nuclear Nations." International Security 17, no. 3 (Winter 1992/93): 160-187.

Giles, Gregory F. "Safeguarding the Undeclared Nuclear Arsenals." The Washington Quarterly 16, no. 2 (spring 1993): 173-186. https://doi.org/10.1080/01636609309443403.

Schlosser, Eric. Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety. New York: The Penguin Press, 2013.

Slocombe, Walter B. Democratic Civilian Control of Nuclear Weapons. Policy Paper no. 12. Geneva: Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), 2006. https://www.dcaf.ch/sites/default/files/publications/documents/pp12_democratic_civilian_control_nuclear_weapons.pdf.

Stein, Peter and Peter Feaver. Assuring Control of Nuclear Weapons: The Evolution of Permissive Action Links. Cambridge, MA: Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University, 1987.

Wellerstein, Alex. "The President and the Bomb." The Nuclear Secrecy Blog. November 18th, 2016. http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2016/11/18/the-president-and-the-bomb/.

Wilson, Edward. "Thank you Vasili Arkhipov, the man who stopped nuclear war." The Guardian. October 27, 2012. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/27/vasili-arkhipov-stopped-nuclear-war.