DOCSLIB.ORG

CSDS Outreach Journal Issue 1322

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
CSDS Outreach Journal Issue 1322 Issue No. 1322 6 July 2018 // USAF CSDS Outreach Journal Issue 1322 // Feature Report “Special Report: How America Protects Its Citizens and Allies from Ballistic Missiles”. By Ben Watson. Published by Defense One; June 29, 2018 https://www.defenseone.com/feature/Protecting-US-Citizens-from-Ballistic-Missiles/ The U.S. military has four primary means of shooting down incoming missiles. But even together, they can’t promise to stop everything. Whether it’s U.S. islands like Guam or Hawaii, coastal cities like San Diego or New York City, or allied territories across the ocean, the 21st century has heightened the threat of ballistic missiles to the United States and its allies. The U.S. military has four systems to shoot down ballistic missiles. It’s an expensive approach, to be sure; and in 17 years of tests, the four systems have hit their targets about four out of of every five tries. But military planners know that when the missiles actually fly, a single missed intercept could have unspeakably catastrophic consequences. Issue No. 1320 22 June 2018 twitter.com/USAF_CSDS | au.af.mil/au/csds // 2 // USAF CSDS Outreach Journal Issue 1322 // TABLE OF CONTENTS NUCLEAR WEAPONS Nuclear Gravity Bomb Completes First Qual Tests on B-2 Bomber (Military.com) The Air Force, together with the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, earlier this month released a B61-12 non-nuclear test assembly from the Spirit. North Korea Working to Conceal Key Aspects of Its Nuclear Program, U.S. Officials Say (The Washington Post) U.S. intelligence officials, citing newly obtained evidence, have concluded that North Korea does not intend to fully surrender its nuclear stockpile … North Korea Reportedly Expanding Ballistic Missile Production Facility (NPR) The Wall Street Journal, citing satellite imagery, reports that the bulk of the new construction at the facility in the North Korean city of Hamhung took place in April and June, around the time Kim was meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, and later with Trump. Wargaming and Deterrence Options: Signalling a Low-Yield Response (Real Clear Defense) The problem with fielding such a force is politics based on cost and will. US COUNTER-WMD Exclusive: Japan to Buy Advanced U.S. Radar for Missile Defense System (Reuters) Japan will next week pick a U.S.-made advanced radar for its multibillion-dollar missile defense system, an upgrade that could help ease trade friction with Washington and provide cutting-edge protection against the arsenals of North Korea and China, sources said. Air Force Tests New CBRN-Protective Liner for Mobile Medical Tent System (Global Biodefense) During the event, Airmen employed the new Expeditionary Medical Support System (EMEDS) tent liner airlock system to create an over-pressurized environment that protects from CBRN agents. OPCW Hosts Medical Treatment of Victims of Chemical Weapons Symposium (Global Biodefense) More than 50 scientists, clinicians, experts, academia, and civil society representatives from around the world attended the Symposium … New Nerve Gas Detector Built with Legos and a Smartphone (UT News) The new methodology described in a paper published Wednesday in the open-access journal ACS Central Science combines a chemical sensor with photography to detect and identify different nerve agents— odorless, tasteless chemical weapons that can cause severe illness and death, sometimes within minutes. US ARMS CONTROL Experts Accentuate Significance of Trump-Putin Summit — Analysis (Eurasia Review) Whether presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin would turn over a new leaf when they meet in Helsinki, Finland on July 16 remains to be seen. UN Chief Marks 50 Years Since NPT Signing (VOA) The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday hailed the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Iran’s Rohani Due in Switzerland, Austria amid Nuclear-Deal Dispute (Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty) Rohani's trip to Switzerland and Austria, which took over the rotating European Union presidency on July twitter.com/USAF_CSDS | au.af.mil/au/csds // 3 // USAF CSDS Outreach Journal Issue 1322 // 1, is part of a diplomatic effort by Tehran to rally support in the wake of the Unites States' withdrawal from the nuclear deal. Israel Confident U.S. to Keep Protections in Any Saudi Nuclear Power Deal (Reuters) Israel’s energy minister said on Tuesday after meeting Trump administration officials he is confident that the United States will not relax non-proliferation standards in any nuclear power deal it agrees with Saudi Arabia. COMMENTARY The Trump-Putin Summit Could Do Some Good If … (Brookings Institution) Having hit a post-Cold War low, the U.S.-Russia relationship could use a push toward a better state. What America Wants from Iran Can’t Be Achieved by Regime Change (The National Interest) The question of what America wants, and above all, how it might get what it is after, still needs to be worked out. Why I’m Still Hopeful about Trump’s North Korea Deal (Politico) As someone who has spent years immersed in the problem of North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, as secretary of defense and later as a presidential envoy on nuclear issues, I watched events of the past spring with a mix of hope and skepticism. Low-Hanging Fruit: Ratify Protocols for Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zones (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists) In fact, Washington could now take arms control steps that are entirely within its own control—steps not dependent on the policies or actions of other nations. North Korea: There is No Such Thing as Stable Deterrence (Real Clear Defense) The history of how deterrence actually worked during the Cold War shows that any deterrence arrangement between the U.S. and North Korea will necessarily be subject to a substantial risk of catastrophic failure. twitter.com/USAF_CSDS | au.af.mil/au/csds // 4 // USAF CSDS Outreach Journal Issue 1322 // NUCLEAR WEAPONS Military.com (San Francisco, Calif.) Nuclear Gravity Bomb Completes First Qual Tests on B-2 Bomber By Oriana Pawlyk June 30, 2018 The B61-12 guided nuclear gravity bomb has gone through its first series of tests on the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber. The Air Force, together with the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, earlier this month released a B61-12 non-nuclear test assembly from the Spirit. The kit included a NNSA-designed bomb assembly and the Air Force's acquired tail-kit to be used on the B61-12 variant of the bomb, according to a Department of Energy release. "These qualification flight tests demonstrate the B61-12 design meets system requirements and illustrate the continued progress of the B61-12 life extension program to meet national security requirements," said Brig. Gen. Michael Lutton, NNSA's principal assistant deputy administrator for military application. "The achievement is also a testament to the dedication of our workforce and the enduring partnership between NNSA and the U.S. Air Force," he added in the release. The two non-nuclear system qualification flight tests of the B61-12 took place on June 9 at Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, officials said. They were conducted by the 419th Test & Evaluation Squadron at Edwards Air Force Base, California. The exercises marked first such "end-to-end qualification tests on a B-2A Spirit Bomber for the B61-12," the release said. "The tests are part of a series of joint tests to demonstrate both the aircraft's capability to deliver the weapon and the weapon's non-nuclear functions." Part of the system's hardware is designed by Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory and manufactured by the Nuclear Security Enterprise plants. Meanwhile, Boeing Co. has designed and manufactured the tail-kit assembly under contract with the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, officials said. Using the B61-12 will help consolidate and replace the existing B61 bomb variants in the U.S.'s nuclear stockpile, the release said. The first completed bomb kits are scheduled to debut sometime in fiscal 2020. In May, top Air Force officials announced trials with the B61-12 were progressing successfully. "We've already conducted 26 engineering, development and guided flight tests," said Lt. Gen. Jack Weinstein, deputy chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration. "The program's doing extremely well." The B61-12 modification program, which has been in the works for at least seven years, is slated to be carried by the B-2, as well as the future B-21 Long Range Strategic Bomber, known as the Raider. The F-35 Lightning II Joint Program Office has also been working on integrating the latest modification into its weapons arsenal. The F-35 was designed with a requirement to carry a nuclear payload. In 2015, an F-35 flew with the B61-12 to measure its vibration in the aircraft's weapons bay. twitter.com/USAF_CSDS | au.af.mil/au/csds // 5 // USAF CSDS Outreach Journal Issue 1322 // Both of the fourth-gen fighters will be able to deploy the B61-12 bomb. The B61-12 also conducted its third and final developmental test flight aboard an F-15E in 2015. https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/06/30/b61-12-nuclear-gravity-bomb-completes- first-qual-tests-b-2-bomber.html Return to top The Washington Post (Washington, D.C.) North Korea Working to Conceal Key Aspects of Its Nuclear Program, U.S. Officials Say By Ellen Nakashima and Joby Warrick June 30, 2018 U.S. intelligence officials, citing newly obtained evidence, have concluded that North Korea does not intend to fully surrender its nuclear stockpile, and instead is considering ways to conceal the number of weapons it has and secret production facilities, according to U.S.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Dead Hand: the Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy by David E
    The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman (2009) - Not Even Past BOOKS FILMS & MEDIA THE PUBLIC HISTORIAN BLOG TEXAS OUR/STORIES STUDENTS ABOUT 15 MINUTE HISTORY "The past is never dead. It's not even past." William Faulkner NOT EVEN PAST Tweet 0 Like THE PUBLIC HISTORIAN The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Making History: Houston’s “Spirit of the Dangerous Legacy by David E. Confederacy” Hoffman (2009) by Jonathan Hunt On September 26, 1983, satellites notified a Soviet watch station south of Moscow of inbound U.S. missiles. Stanislav Petrov, the officer on duty, had ten minutes to determine whether to launch a counterattack. Mercifully, he chose to report the incident as a false alarm. His conscious disregard for standing protocol likely May 06, 2020 saved tens of millions of lives. More from The Public Historian The Dead Hand, David Hoffman’s gripping history of the Cold War’s final years, teems with such hair-raising details. He uses eyewitness interviews and newly BOOKS declassified papers to recapture the context in which Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev and U.S. President America for Americans: A History of Ronald Reagan tried to halt the runaway U.S.-Soviet Xenophobia in the United States by arms race. His exposure of the dark underbelly of the Erika Lee (2019) Soviet military-industrial complex is especially disturbing. The book’s title comes from a computer network, “a real- world doomsday machine,” built in the 1980s to retaliate in the event the Soviet leadership was killed by a U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • The Man Who Saved the World” – with Kevin Costner
    TIMELY & RIVETING DOCUMENTARY “THE MAN WHO SAVED THE WORLD” – WITH KEVIN COSTNER. THE UNKNOWN STORY OF HOW ONE MAN SAVED MANKIND FROM NUCLEAR DESTRUCTION – WILL HAVE AN AWARDS-QUALIFYING THEATRICAL RELEASE STARTING SEPT. 18, 2015 “The Man Who Saved The World…combines elements of narrative and documentary filmmaking for a true and powerful story about (and starring, as himself) Stanislav Petrov, who actually averted a nuclear holocaust but remained unknown, until now.” – Mitch Myers, The Hollywood Reporter With appearances by Walter Cronkite, Robert De Niro, Matt Damon and Ashton Kutcher; U.S. theatrical release coincides with events at the United Nations, including the visit of Pope Francis who is expected to focus on need to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons A Light Cone Pictures Release Distributor: The Film Collaborative Trailer: https://vimeo.com/136707481 NEW YORK / LOS ANGELES – As the U.S. Congress prepares to vote on the controversial Iranian Nuclear Arms Deal, a powerful new documentary feature film entitled The Man Who Saved the World – which plays like a Hollywood thriller and is an actual, incredible, untold true story with nuclear war at the forefront – is set to open in select U.S. cities this September. The film details how one man’s decision to not follow military protocol, saved the world from certain nuclear apocalypse and the enduring, personal hardships he has since sought to overcome. The film tells the haunting and chilling events of September 26th, 1983 when all Soviet satellite warning systems indicated that the United States was launching a full-scale nuclear attack on the Soviet Union and the fate of our planet rested solely in the hands of Russian Lt.
    [Show full text]
  • Artificial Intelligence, Autonomy, and Human-Machine Teams: Interdependence, Context, and Explainable AI
    Context Editorial Editorial Introduction to the Special Articles on Context Artificial Intelligence, Autonomy, and Human-Machine Teams: Interdependence, Context, and Explainable AI W. F. Lawless, Ranjeev Mittu, Donald Sofge, Laura Hiatt Because in military situations, as ontext supposedly explains everything in the envi- well as for self-driving cars, information ronment that influences our perceptions, cognitions, must be processed faster than humans actions (Sober 2009), and awareness, the latter set- can achieve, determination of context C ting the stage for deception (Lawless 2017a.) For example, computationally, also known as sit- Wells Fargo, the largest US mortgage lender and the third uational assessment, is increasingly largest US bank, “admitted to deceiving the US government important. In this article, we introduce the topic of context, and we discuss into insuring thousands of risky mortgages” (Stempel 2016). what is known about the heretofore Context is the word sequence in a sentence that allows the intractable research problem on the brain to discover a missing word, unravel the meaning of effects of interdependence, present in handwriting, or repair faulty grammar (McClelland and the best of human teams; we close by Rumelhart 1988). With Bayesian inference, Marwah and proposing that interdependence must colleagues (2012) applied context-specific ontologies in be mastered mathematically to oper- cancer research. An organization’s context is its manage- ate human-machine teams efficiently, ment, culture, and systems (Doolen et al. 2003). to advance theory, and to make the machine actions directed by AI explain- able to team members and society. The special topic articles in this issue and a subsequent issue of AI Magazine review ongoing mature research and operational programs that address context for human-machine teams.
    [Show full text]
  • 2018 Annual Report
    Technology is giving life ...or to self-destruct. the potential to flourish Let’s make a difference! like never before... Annual Report Making a Difference 2018 1 2018: By the Numbers Organizations signed LAWS Pledge 244 Taking the next step toward preventing LAWS, companies Countries represented and individuals pledged not 90 to develop the technology. 3187 People signed Million awarded AGI Safety Grants $2 FLI launched our second Teams applied for round of AI safety grants, grants this time focusing on AGI. 181 Million requested $47 Asilomar Principles endorsed Legislative by CA Legislature Resolutions 23 FLI’s efforts are starting to be translated into CA reps unanimously legislation, both nationally 39 supported Asilomar Principles and internationally. FLI open letters referenced in European Parliament 3 Resolution against LAWS 2 African delegates joined Nuclear & LAWS discussions in South Africa. 2 countries later signed 29 the UN Nuclear Ban Treaty UN Presentations FLI continued UN outreach AI webinar to UNDP reps in regarding nuclear weapons, 1 Europe and Central Asia artificial intelligence, and LAWS. AI researchers represented 4,000 during 2 UN CCW presentations Million visitors to 1 the FLI website Million People Between our websites, social Listens across two media platforms, and Max’s 83,000 podcast series TED Talk, online outreach continued to grow. Million people watched Max’s 1.15 TED Talk Global speaking opportunities, 20 including multiple keynotes Events Events that FLI members FLI members continue to 30 actively participated
    [Show full text]
  • Meaning and Anti-Meaning in Life and What Happens After We
    1 Forthcoming in Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements. This is the accepted manuscript version, which has not yet been copy-edited. Meaning and Anti-Meaning in Life and What Happens After We Die Sven Nyholm Abstract The absence of meaningfulness in life is meaninglessness. But what is the polar opposite of meaningfulness? In recent and ongoing work together with Stephen Campbell and Marcello di Paola respectively, I have explored what we dub ‘anti-meaning’: the negative counterpart of positive meaning in life. Here, I relate this idea of ‘anti-meaningful’ actions, activities, and projects to the topic of death, and in particular the deaths or suffering of those who will live after our own deaths. Connecting this idea of anti- meaning and what happens after our own deaths to recent work by Samuel Scheffler on what he calls ‘the collective afterlife’ and his four reasons to care about future generations, I argue that if we today make choices or have lifestyles that later lead to unnecessarily early deaths and otherwise avoidable suffering of people who will live after we have died, this robs our current choices and lifestyles of some of their meaning, perhaps even making them the opposite of meaningful in the long run. On September 26 of 1983, a nuclear early-warning system in the Soviet Union mistakenly indicated that a missile had been launched from the United States, that it was heading in the direction of the Soviet Union, and that the missile had been followed by 2 five more. According to Soviet military protocol, it was the job of the duty officer of the command center to report the indications of the satellite warning system to officers higher up on the chain of command.
    [Show full text]
  • Artificial Intelligence, Strategic Stability and Nuclear Risk
    SIPRI ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, Policy Paper STRATEGIC STABILITY AND NUCLEAR RISK VINCENT BOULANIN, LORA SAALMAN, PETR TOPYCHKANOV, FEI SU AND MOA PELDÁN CARLSSON June 2020 STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE SIPRI is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Established in 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public. The Governing Board is not responsible for the views expressed in the publications of the Institute. GOVERNING BOARD Ambassador Jan Eliasson, Chair (Sweden) Dr Vladimir Baranovsky (Russia) Espen Barth Eide (Norway) Jean-Marie Guéhenno (France) Dr Radha Kumar (India) Ambassador Ramtane Lamamra (Algeria) Dr Patricia Lewis (Ireland/United Kingdom) Dr Jessica Tuchman Mathews (United States) DIRECTOR Dan Smith (United Kingdom) Signalistgatan 9 SE-169 72 Solna, Sweden Telephone: + 46 8 655 9700 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.sipri.org Artificial Intelligence, Strategic Stability and Nuclear Risk vincent boulanin, lora saalman, petr topychkanov, fei su and moa peldán carlsson June 2020 Contents Preface v Acknowledgements vi Abbreviations vii Executive Summary ix 1. Introduction 1 Box 1.1. Key definitions 6 2. Understanding the AI renaissance and its impact on nuclear weapons 7 and related systems I. Understanding the AI renaissance 7 II. AI and nuclear weapon systems: Past, present and future 18 Box 2.1. Automatic, automated, autonomous: The relationship between 15 automation, autonomy and machine learning Box 2.2. Historical cases of false alarms in early warning systems 20 Box 2.3. Dead Hand and Perimetr 22 Figure 2.1. A brief history of artificial intelligence 10 Figure 2.2.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Strategic Stability and Nuclear Risk Volume I Euro-Atlantic Perspectives Edited by Vincent Boulanin
    SIPRI THE IMPACT OF Policy Paper ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON STRATEGIC STABILITY AND NUCLEAR RISK Volume I Euro-Atlantic Perspectives edited by vincent boulanin May 2019 STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE SIPRI is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Established in 1966, SIPRI provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public. The Governing Board is not responsible for the views expressed in the publications of the Institute. GOVERNING BOARD Ambassador Jan Eliasson, Chair (Sweden) Dr Dewi Fortuna Anwar (Indonesia) Dr Vladimir Baranovsky (Russia) Espen Barth Eide (Norway) Jean-Marie Guéhenno (France) Dr Radha Kumar (India) Dr Patricia Lewis (Ireland/United Kingdom) Dr Jessica Tuchman Mathews (United States) DIRECTOR Dan Smith (United Kingdom) Signalistgatan 9 SE-169 72 Solna, Sweden Telephone: + 46 8 655 9700 Email: [email protected] Internet: www.sipri.org The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Strategic Stability and Nuclear Risk Volume I Euro-Atlantic Perspectives edited by vincent boulanin May 2019 Contents Preface vii Acknowledgements viii Abbreviations ix Executive Summary xi Introduction 1. Introduction 3 Box 1.1. Key definitions 4 Part I. Demystifying artificial intelligence and its military implications 11 2. Artificial intelligence: A primer 13 I. What is AI? 13 II. Machine learning: A key enabler of the AI renaissance 15 III. Autonomy: A key by-product of the AI renaissance 21 IV. Conclusions 25 Box 2.1. Deep learning 16 Box 2.2. Generative adversarial networks 18 Box 2.3. Automatic, automated, autonomous 23 Figure 2.1. Approaches to the definition and categorization of autonomous 22 systems 3.
    [Show full text]
  • Dancing the Cold War an International Symposium
    Dancing the Cold War An International Symposium Sponsored by the Barnard College Dance Department and the Harriman Institute, Columbia University Organized by Lynn Garafola February 16-18, 2017 tContents Lynn Garafola Introduction 4 Naima Prevots Dance as an Ideological Weapon 10 Eva Shan Chou Soviet Ballet in Chinese Cultural Policy, 1950s 12 Stacey Prickett “Taking America’s Story to the World” Ballets: U.S.A. during the Cold War 23 Stephanie Gonçalves Dien-Bien-Phu, Ballet, and Politics: The First Sovviet Ballet Tour in Paris, May 1954 24 Harlow Robinson Hurok and Gosconcert 25 Janice Ross Outcast as Patriot: Leonid Yakobson’s Spartacus and the Bolshoi’s 1962 American Tour 37 Tim Scholl Traces: What Cultural Exchange Left Behind 45 Julia Foulkes West and East Side Stories: A Musical in the Cold War 48 Victoria Phillips Cold War Modernist Missionary: Martha Graham Takes Joan of Arc and Catherine of Siena “Behind the Iron Curtain” 65 Joanna Dee Das Dance and Decolonization: African-American Choreographers in Africa during the Cold War 65 Elizabeth Schwall Azari Plisetski and the Spectacle of Cuban-Soviet Exchanges, 1963-73 72 Sergei Zhuk The Disco Effect in Cold-War Ukraine 78 Video Coverage of Sessions on Saturday, February 18 Lynn Garafola’s Introduction Dancers’ Roundatble 1-2 The End of the Cold War and Historical Memory 1-2 Alexei Ratmansky on his Recreations of Soviet-Era Works can be accessed by following this link. Introduction Lynn Garafola Thank you, Kim, for that wonderfully concise In the Cold War struggle for hearts and minds, – and incisive – overview, the perfect start to a people outside the corridors of power played a symposium that seeks to explore the role of dance huge part.
    [Show full text]
  • Arms Control in the COVID-19 Era: No Next Step Without New START
    No. 50 l May 2020 KENNAN CABLE President Obama signing The New START Treaty. Photo courtesy of: whitehouse.gov Arms Control in the COVID-19 Era: No Next Step without New START By Peter Zwack While the world’s attention is riveted on the deadly suddenly find ourselves at risk of a new arms race in an COVID-19 pandemic, another urgent existential threat uncertain post-COVID-19 world order that could prove is quietly growing in the background: the steady even more dangerous than the depths of the Cold War. termination of nuclear arms control treaties between the United States and the Russian Federation and the Our most experienced thinkers are trying to raise the absence of new arms control negotiations. The robust alarm. The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists recently programs and treaties that emerged in the decades pegged its macabre global Doomsday Clock to just following the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis have fallen by 100 seconds from midnight. This is the closest to the wayside, leaving us with only one treaty limiting world destruction that this renowned assemblage of nuclear weapon stockpiles. The New Strategic Arms retired world leaders, Nobel laureates, and scientists Reduction Treaty (New START) is scheduled to expire has assessed since it began gauging the state of the 1 on February 5, 2021. If New START is allowed to expire world in 1947. In December, the respected Dartmouth without extension, revision, or replacement, we will Conference, an annual gathering since 1960 of U.S., Soviet, and Russian thought leaders, issued its first No. 50 l May 2020 KENNAN CABLE public appeal in its 60-year history entitled “Don’t something like this would happen this Let START Stop,” urging extension of New START, would lead to the collapse of the entire our one remaining nuclear weapons treaty.2 civilization and maybe our planet.
    [Show full text]
  • Lesson Plan Brought to You by Theatreteacher.ORG in Partnership with Storytree Children’S Theatre
    STANISLAV PETROV lesson plan Brought to you by TheatreTeacher.ORG in partnership with Storytree Children’s Theatre LIEUTENANT COLONEL OF THE SOVIET AIR DEFENCE FORCES born 1939 - Died 2017 PAGE 2 theatreteacher.org “when we deal with space, when we play god, who knows what will be the neXt surprise.” Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov was a lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces who played a key role in the 1983 Soviet nuclear false alarm incident. On 26 September 1983, three weeks after the Soviet military had shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, Petrov was the duty officer at the command center for the Oko nuclear early-warning system when the system reported that a missile had been launched from the United States, followed by up to five more. Petrov judged the reports to be a false alarm, and his decision to disobey Teralyn Reiter Founder/Teaching Artist orders, against Soviet military protocol, is credited with having prevented an erroneous retaliatory nuclear attack on the United E-mail: States and its NATO allies that could have resulted in a large- [email protected] scale nuclear war. Investigation later confirmed that the Soviet satellite warning system had indeed malfunctioned. TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 Awards, Curriculum Vocabulary, Theatre/Story Vocabulary, and Materials 4-5 Understanding the Story 6-8 Details, Details, Details 9-10 The Moment After 11-14 Monologue This lesson plan is property of TheatreTeacher.org. Photocopying of this lesson plan is permitted. storytree children’s theatre PAGE 3 awards World Citizen Award from Association of World Citizens Dresden Peace Award from Dresden, Germany Future of Life Award (posthumously) curriculum vocabulary Software - the programs and other operating information used by a computer.
    [Show full text]
  • Npr 6.2: Ensuring the Security of Russia's Chemical Weapons
    Kathleen Vogel arch 20, 1995, is a date etched in history. terrorist groups are plotting for another chemical attack— On that day, in a crowded Tokyo subway, this time, perhaps, on US soil. As President Bill Clinton Mthe religious cult Aum Shinrikyo staged the asserts, “In light of what happened in Japan, all advanced first major terrorist use of chemical weapons (CW). countries should be very, very concerned about the pros- The attack killed 12 and injured over 5,000 passen- pect of the merger of terrorism with weapons of mass gers. Only a fortunate bun- destruction.”9 gling of the operation Due to dire economic prevented thousands from VIEWPOINT: conditions in the former being killed. Although Soviet Union, security nearly 400 cult members ENSURING THE measures around Russian have been arrested for their weapons facilities are involvement in the subway SECURITY OF RUSSIA’S poorly maintained, mak- attack and other terrorist ing insider theft or terror- activities, many more of CHEMICAL WEAPONS: ist attack possible. The the cult’s criminals (some vulnerability of Russia’s inevitably with CW exper- A LAB-TO-LAB CW has been made plain 2 tise) are still at large. PARTNERING PROGRAM in recent news headlines. Recent investigations of In 1996, through an under- the attack have uncovered by Kathleen Vogel1 cover sting operation, the alarming information about Istanbul Security Direc- Aum’s international efforts torate seized Russian- to procure high-tech equipment needed to produce weap- made mustard gas and sarin.10 According to the Istanbul ons of mass destruction (WMD). This information re- newspaper, Hurriyet, detectives agreed to buy 20 tubes veals that a range of sensitive materials from the former of CW agents from seller Emin Ekinci for $1 million.
    [Show full text]
  • September 26Th, 1983: the Day the World Almost Died by TONY RENNELL—Last Updated at 12:43Pm on 29Th December 2007 More by This Author »
    September 26th, 1983: The day the world almost died By TONY RENNELL—Last updated at 12:43pm on 29th December 2007 More by this author » Stanislav Petrov, a lieutenant-colonel in the military intelligence section of the Soviet Union's secret service, reluctantly eased himself into the commander's seat in the underground early warning bunker south of Moscow. It should have been his night off but another officer had gone sick and he had been summoned at the last minute. Before him were screens showing photographs of underground missile silos in the Midwest prairies of America, relayed from spy satellites in the sky. He and his men watched and listened on headphones for any sign of movement—anything unusual that might suggest the U.S. was launching a nuclear attack. This was the height of the Cold War between the USSR and the U.S. Both sides packed a formidable punch—hundreds of rockets and thousands of nuclear warheads capable of reducing the other to rubble. It was a game of nerves, of bluff and counterbluff. Who would fire first? Would the other have the chance to retaliate? The flying time of an inter-continental ballistic missile, from the U.S. to the USSR, and vice-versa, was around 12 minutes. If the Cold War were ever to go 'hot', seconds could make the difference between life and death. Everything would hinge on snap decisions. For now, though, as far as Petrov was concerned, more hinged on just getting through another boring night in which nothing ever happened. Except then, suddenly, it did.
    [Show full text]