US Plans for a Nuclear Attack

Aug 10, 2023

US Plans for a Nuclear Attack

A nuclear attack on US soil would send the country into code red. But how is the US government planning to deal with a nuclear catastrophe? Check out today’s epic new video to find out the government’s plan in case the United States is hit by a nuclear bomb!

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Content

0.18 -> The worst-case scenario finally happened. The bombs are in the air,

3.66 -> and in a matter of minutes the United States will be hit by a nuclear attack. Millions

7.68 -> are in danger - along with the entire future of the United States government.

10.68 -> What now?

11.7 -> This isn’t the first time the threat of nuclear annihilation was high on the government’s mind.

15.84 -> Ever since the United States beat the Nazis to the bomb and was followed by the Soviets

19.98 -> only years later, the government has been preparing for the worst-case scenario of

23.58 -> a nuclear strike on the homeland. Initially, the threat was the Soviet Union - the United States’

28.8 -> arch-nemesis - but now the threat of nuclear attack comes from China, Russia, North Korea,

34.02 -> Pakistan, rising powers like Iran, and even international terror groups. No one knows

39.42 -> whether any of these besides the first two even have the capability to hit the United States.

43.62 -> But the government is not looking to test their luck.

46.14 -> After the September 11th terror attacks,

48.42 -> the government quickly moved to plan for all eventualities and have a plan of action

52.44 -> in case of worst-case scenarios. There are multiple scenarios created by the Department

56.64 -> of Homeland Security - and a nuclear attack is National Response Scenario #1. Ominously,

62.04 -> the scenarios are ranked by how likely they are to occur - which means the government

66 -> thinks that a nuclear attack on the homeland is the most likely catastrophic scenario to occur.

71.46 -> And dealing with it will not be simple.

73.38 -> The government’s first step is to try to keep a lid on the nuclear threat,

77.1 -> and that is a lot more complicated than it used to be. In the Cold War, keeping the nukes from

81.18 -> being launched usually meant talking to one man - the Premiere of the Soviet Union. While other

85.92 -> countries had nuclear weapons, they were usually firmly aligned with one of the two sides. Now,

90.42 -> with India and Pakistan both having nukes and being in a low-boil state of war with each other,

95.22 -> plus the notoriously unstable Kim regime testing missiles all the time, there are

99.72 -> far more variables. And with the collapse of the Soviet Union and instability in other regimes

104.28 -> means it’s possible for nuclear weapons and dirty bombs to wind up on the black market.

108.48 -> Which means that nuclear weapons could hit the homeland in more ways than one.

112.26 -> The biggest threat is long-range nuclear missiles, which carry the biggest payload.

116.4 -> It’s believed that only Russia and China have the ability to hit the US this way - with

120.84 -> North Korea working hard to join the club. Other countries’ nuclear missiles are mostly designed

125.16 -> to deal with threats in their backyard. While this is the most predictable threat,

128.88 -> it’s also the most dangerous - these are the missiles that will carry the biggest

132.06 -> payload and could annihilate a whole metro area in a single hit. The United States,

136.86 -> Russia, and China each have enough of these to annihilate life on earth several times over.

141.9 -> Which is why an early warning system is key.

144.24 -> The United States, Canada, and Denmark developed a radar system during the Cold

148.5 -> War to warn of incoming Soviet missiles. Because the shortest route for a Soviet

152.64 -> missile was through the North Pole, they built the infrastructure throughout the Arctic. Those

156.72 -> systems were the building blocks for ballistic missile warning systems around the world,

160.14 -> and they’re still in play today - although they’re not foolproof. During the Cold War,

164.7 -> there were several false alarms of incoming missiles, and nuclear war was only averted by

168.72 -> cool-headed commanders who often defied protocol to hold off on launching a full scale response.

173.76 -> And even in the modern day, there were false alarms - in 2018, residents of Hawaii received

178.8 -> an emergency text about an incoming ballistic missile, sending most of the island into a panic.

183.6 -> Those were false alarms - but the real one could come at any minute.

186.84 -> In the event of an actual nuclear attack, the government has many plans to keep things

190.62 -> running. The first priority is to ensure the safety of the President and the key to the

194.88 -> United States’ defense - the nuclear football. Despite what the media wants you to think,

199.32 -> there is no briefcase with a big button to launch the nukes - which is probably a good thing,

203.88 -> given how some Presidents might have hit it because someone insulted them on Twitter.

207 -> Instead, to launch nuclear weapons, the president uses the briefcase to

211.14 -> communicate with the Pentagon from anywhere and give his instructions.

214.02 -> And his orders are absolute.

215.88 -> The President’s orders are authenticated through the Pentagon, but their only purpose is to confirm

220.5 -> that the President is the one giving the orders. Once the President gives the command to launch

224.64 -> nuclear weapons in retaliation of an attack - or as a first strike - the Pentagon has no authority

229.8 -> to deny the order. They confirm the President’s identity including the current nuclear codes,

234.24 -> and launch. Some have said this gives the President too much power,

237.78 -> with Major Harold Hering pointing out some of the flaws in the program during the Cold

241.62 -> War. He was promptly removed from the missile training program for asking too many questions.

245.94 -> But before the missiles launch, the President has to be kept alive.

249.48 -> Once it’s clear that the missiles are in the air, the President will immediately be spirited away

253.44 -> to an emergency bunker - whatever the closest one to his location is. This is likely to be

258.6 -> a short and easy trip, because the government has dozens of these bunkers around the country - each

263.04 -> equipped to be both a local command center for the President, and a place where the survivors can be

267.06 -> kept alive long-term. These bunkers are where the worst-case scenario plays out - if life on the

271.98 -> surface becomes impossible due to nuclear fallout, the US government can survive underground.

276.18 -> And some of these facilities are massive.

278.7 -> While most of these - and their locations - are kept secret, the largest are well-known. But that

283.74 -> doesn’t mean you can get in to take a tour. Raven Rock, located in southern Pennsylvania,

287.82 -> is a massive US military installation that serves as a command center for the Armed Forces. Each of

293.04 -> the four branches have a base here, along with Mount Weather in Virginia and Cheyenne Mountain

297.42 -> in Colorado. All three are built into mountains and are massive, looking more like a city than an

302.46 -> office building. The only people who have access to these centers are essential military personnel

306.9 -> who have high enough clearance to access the core of the government’s nuclear preparedness plan.

311.64 -> But what if the President can’t be saved?

313.92 -> No one knows where the first missile will hit, and it’s possible that the President,

317.34 -> the Vice President, and the leaders of Congress - the Speaker of the House and

320.64 -> the President Pro Tempore - will be at ground zero when a nuclear attack hits Washington.

324.36 -> This could throw the US government into chaos, with no clear leader - which is why the order of

329.22 -> succession is locked into the Constitution. If the first four leaders are wiped out,

333 -> the order of succession starts working its way down the Cabinet, starting with

336.9 -> the Secretary of State and moving down by when the Cabinet positions were created. That makes

341.34 -> the Secretary of Homeland Security last in line, since they hold the most recent seat.

345.3 -> And the government takes great care to ensure it’s never completely wiped out.

348.9 -> The entire line of succession is never in the same place at the same time, and this

353.04 -> most often comes into play with the State of the Union address. One cabinet official

356.7 -> is always chosen to stay behind and hold down the fort in a safe location in case an attack

361.38 -> wipes out Congress - the Designated Survivor. This is an orderly way of handling things,

366.06 -> but in the event of a nuclear attack, it’s more likely to come down to whoever happens

370.2 -> to be the luckiest. So the Military’s first task in the event of an unexpected attack might be to

375.12 -> track down the survivor who’s first in line - and let them know they’re now President.

378.6 -> Well, good, the President is secure - whoever it is. What about the rest of us?

382.92 -> Back when nuclear weapons were first developed, the plans to survive an attack were rudimentary

387.36 -> at best. People built bomb shelters, but it’s not clear if any of them actually

390.72 -> could have withstood a nuclear blast. As for the government, they knew that people would

394.56 -> likely only have minutes of warning before Soviet weapons hit - and very few places

398.58 -> to hide. So their advice was…to get under your desk. American schoolchildren during the 1950s

403.98 -> became very acquainted with the “duck and cover” drill, which joined the iconic fire

407.82 -> drill in regular routines. Was hiding under your desk going to make a difference in a

411.6 -> nuclear attack? Of course not! But it made people feel like they had more control over their fate,

415.98 -> so it might have done its job at the time. And hey, it was promoted by a cartoon turtle.

420.633 -> Photo Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duck_and_Cover_(film)#/media/File:Bert2.png

420.72 -> But in the event of an actual nuclear strike,

423.06 -> the government did have plans to try to preserve what it could.

425.46 -> Communication will be key in the immediate aftermath of a nuclear attack,

429 -> so who gets put in charge? Not the Department of Defense, surprisingly - the Environmental

433.8 -> Protection Agency. This is because the biggest threat after the initial blasts

437.64 -> will be the radiation in the air. Anyone who is caught in the immediate blast radius is

441.72 -> gone and those who did manage to get far enough from the blast will not last long

445.38 -> without the government’s help. But in the aftermath, knowing what to do might make

449.04 -> the difference between survival and dying of radiation sickness. So the

452.94 -> EPA has released a series of scripts designed to guide people through the aftermath of an attack.

457.14 -> Some of them are common-sense - and some may keep people from making fatal mistakes.

461.1 -> The scripts tell people how to get their hands on food and water, and warn them to get as far

465.24 -> away from the blast site. They also warn people to avoid public spaces, as the risk of making

470.1 -> your way to the hospital or fire station is too high to take unless you have a pressing medical

474.42 -> emergency. Surprisingly, they say that if you’re in your car when the bombs hit, that’s the safest

478.92 -> place to be - it may be tempting to abandon the car and seek a safer place, but the car actually

483.42 -> shields you quite well from outside radiation, so hunkering down in your car might be your best bet.

488.28 -> But advice can only go so far.

490.2 -> The government is prepared for all eventualities,

492.66 -> and even thought the risk of nuclear war has declined since the Cold War,

496.08 -> they’re staying stocked with medication that could alleviate sickness in the aftermath of a nuclear

500.7 -> attack. This is part of the Strategic National Stockpile, a cache of emergency medication stored

505.98 -> for a disaster. This stockpile is spread out among a network of warehouses around the United States,

510.48 -> and could be used to respond to a sudden disease outbreak or natural disaster,

514.26 -> but the most important part of the cache is its stock of medicine designed to help with

518.22 -> radiation sickness. Of course, this doesn’t help the people caught at ground zero,

522.24 -> or those who receive a fatal dose, but it could help to reduce casualties in the aftermath.

526.38 -> And who would be handling the distribution?

528.42 -> That would be the one organization everyone hopes is wasting taxpayer

532.68 -> money - because they’ll only have something to do in the aftermath of a massive disaster. The

537.36 -> Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise, or the tongue-twisting acronym PHEMCE,

544.5 -> is the government’s last-resort agency in the event of a nuclear disaster. This is

548.82 -> especially important because it’s possible some agencies might be wiped out by the attack and

553.08 -> others might be unable to communicate due to infrastructure being destroyed. So this

557.16 -> division will coordinate between around a dozen government agencies, including the

561.36 -> CDC and Defense department. The goal will be to get supplies and medication out to the people,

565.68 -> communicate safety measures, figure out where the attack came from - and decide on a response.

570.18 -> But there’s only so much the government can do.

572.4 -> The government does have bunkers around the country, with Raven Rock being the biggest

576.3 -> and most secure. No one is sure exactly how many there are or what their capacity is,

580.74 -> but it’s become clear that in the event of a large-scale nuclear disaster, it’ll be impossible

585.06 -> to save everyone. During the 1950s, the bombs were smaller and slower and we were more likely

590.34 -> to have advanced warning. No country had nearly as many nukes as they do today, and the population

595.14 -> of the United States was much smaller. Then the bombs kept growing and growing, and so did the

600.36 -> population. Weapons were developed that could wipe out whole cities in a matter of seconds.

604.08 -> And so the plan changed.

605.76 -> During the Reagan Administration, two influential men were brought in to meet with the President.

610.38 -> Their names? Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. While they would become famous - or infamous - a

616.08 -> few decades later, they were only trusted advisors now, and Reagan wanted them to develop a Cold War

621.24 -> strategy to ensure the survival of US leadership during a nuclear war. Tensions with the Soviet

626.22 -> Union were heating up again, and a nuclear war could break out at any time. So every year,

630.66 -> they would head off on a secret mission to plan an escape route for the line

634.38 -> of succession. While the plan is highly classified, it’s believed that it involved

638.28 -> the key officials being split up and flown to separate bunkers - with each team including a

642.36 -> Cabinet member and officials representing the Defense Department, State Department,

646.08 -> and the CIA. So no matter who survived, the infrastructure would be there to take command.

650.52 -> But what would life be like for those who survived?

652.86 -> The plan was for an extended stay underground in the bunkers, which would be well-stocked

657.3 -> with the basics of survival - and not much else. Life down there would be spartan,

661.2 -> with food likely being strictly rationed for long-term survival and designed to

665.34 -> be shelf-stable - because its job was to sit there until it was needed. During the 1950s,

669.54 -> the government initially urged people to keep a week’s supply of canned goods on hand in case

673.62 -> of a nuclear event - but more research showed this wouldn’t provide much beyond a stay of

677.76 -> execution. Much more would be needed if a family wanted to survive a nuclear attack.

681.54 -> So the Government began preparing emergency rations.

684.3 -> The solution? The All-Purpose Survival Cracker, a hard and mostly tasteless cracker made out

690.9 -> of bulgur wheat. It came in individual packets along with a tiny hard candy that was called a

695.46 -> carbohydrate supplement. They were designed to be shelf-stable, but they didn’t last forever - when

700.14 -> there was an attempt to use the crackers in the 1970s in disaster zones, it was clear they had

704.4 -> long since expired. They were designed for a time when nuclear war felt very real, almost expected,

709.86 -> but when the apocalypse didn’t happen, they fell out of use and production stopped. Today,

714.54 -> they’re really not needed - the selection of cheap, accessible canned foods that can last

718.56 -> years or more is so large that people can stock their apocalypse pantry with ease.

722.94 -> But the odds are the people in charge have much better provisions.

725.82 -> No one knows exactly what’s in buildings like Raven Rock, but the sheer size of the facilities

730.86 -> means they likely have room to supply a staff of hundreds or even thousands for years at a time. So

736.08 -> the President won’t be going hungry, and he might even be able to bring his personal chef along -

740.1 -> although he, like everyone else, would be limited to shelf-stable and long-lasting foods. But for

744.54 -> the rest of us, we’re back to the old advice of keeping a supply of canned goods to last us until

748.62 -> the outside was safe again. But the government isn’t really advising people to plan for a nuclear

753.06 -> disaster anymore - even if the odds of one are slightly higher than they were post-Cold War.

757.62 -> And even if the government isn’t planning for a war, that doesn’t mean they’re not ready for one.

761.64 -> What would happen if the United States was actually hit by a nuclear attack, killing millions

766.02 -> and wiping out much of the US government. It would be clear that a state of war existed - but what if

770.58 -> the government didn’t know exactly where the bombs came from at first? The mobile command

774.24 -> center’s first task would be to track the bombs to make sure that we were hitting the right

778.68 -> country in response. This is only applicable in the event of a missile attack, the most likely

783.72 -> method. If an unconventional nuclear attack was launched, such as a suitcase nuke or a dirty bomb,

788.34 -> the government’s initial efforts would be on relief and investigation. But when a culprit

792.9 -> was uncovered, whether it was a terrorist group or a rogue state, there would be hell to pay.

797.1 -> But what if it was a superpower?

798.84 -> The most likely threat to the US in the Cold War was the Soviets deciding to strike first

803.46 -> because it decided the time was now to vanquish its greatest enemy and put the entire world

808.02 -> under the Soviet boot. Was this a realistic outcome? No one’s sure, and most of the times

813.12 -> nuclear war nearly broke out were because of brinksmanship and mistaken intelligence. But

818.16 -> if the Soviet Union did hit the United States, the Defense department had a plan - and it was

822.72 -> a plan for maximum damage. It was called the Single Integrated Operational Plan, and it was

827.76 -> a doomsday agenda to unleash over 1700 nuclear devices across more than 700 targets - wiping

833.82 -> out all major Soviet and Chinese cities as well as targets in other communist nations like North

838.44 -> Korea. It’s not clear how this plan evolved over the years, but one thing that was shocking about

842.94 -> it was that it made no distinction whether a Communist country had attacked the US or not.

847.26 -> But would this plan work today?

849.42 -> In a word…no. When the plan was designed, the bombs being used were eighty kilotons - four times

854.88 -> the strength of the bomb that hit Nagasaki. Today, most nuclear missiles are much more

859.56 -> powerful than that, and an attack of this strength would likely not just annihilate the enemy,

863.58 -> but cause a level of nuclear fallout that would make life on the surface completely

867.36 -> inhospitable long-term. The clouds would carry the poison all around the world,

870.96 -> even far from the sites that were initially hit. In a best-case scenario, people would be

875.28 -> forced to live underground for years. In worse scenarios, it could mean the end of all life

879.6 -> on Earth. That means any response today would likely be much more targeted - but it’s highly

885.3 -> likely it would still involve a nuclear hit on the power structures of the enemy behind the attack.

889.38 -> Other elements of the response plan have thankfully been abandoned as well.

892.98 -> One of the most infamous parts of World War II was the arrest and internment of thousands

897.42 -> of Japanese-Americans solely based on their ethnicity by the United States,

900.9 -> with most being held for years until the war ended. And so naturally, during the Cold War

905.28 -> some people looked at this blatant civil rights violation and went “How can I make this work for

909.72 -> me?”. J. Edgar Hoover, the notoriously paranoid FBI chief, was known for keeping an enemy’s list,

915.06 -> and he advocated for the President using it as a base for detaining and arresting anyone deemed

919.62 -> to be a potential “subversive”. This would have likely involved any foreign aliens in the United

924 -> States, as well as potentially anyone of the nationality of the attackers. These plans were

928.62 -> never put into effect - but no one is sure what lists the government is still making.

932.28 -> But the biggest challenge for the government

934.02 -> in the aftermath of a nuclear attack may just be…the people.

937.2 -> The United States has a grand tradition of reacting with calm and solidarity in the event of

942.18 -> a disaster, and we have no doubt that…oh, who are we kidding? It’s only been a few years since 2020,

947.46 -> and we all remember fighting over that last rolls of toilet paper in the aisles of Target. When a

951.72 -> disaster happens, it often becomes much worse because people overreact and become paranoid

955.92 -> and hostile. In the aftermath of a nuclear attack, it’s likely that people would panic,

960 -> and that could make a bad situation worse. If people are running around willy-nilly,

964.08 -> it could lead to a higher death rate due to radiation poisoning. It could also lead to a

967.8 -> surge in crime at a time when the authorities are occupied with a much bigger problem.

971.22 -> So the Government decided to see how much it could predict before it happened.

974.58 -> The Department of Defense regularly runs simulations on their computer systems for

978.96 -> specific types of disasters, such as a nuclear attack going off right over

982.8 -> the White House. The system was created by a researcher at Virginia Tech, Chris Barrett,

987 -> who specializes in massive simulations that involve variables for thousands of people. Using

991.98 -> one of the most advanced computers in the world, it maps out which outcomes would cause the best

996 -> results - and which would cause the worst. These simulations were picked up by the government, and

1000.5 -> they’re now a regular feature of the government planning for events they hope never come to pass.

1004.82 -> So what are the best and worst case scenarios?

1007.94 -> The best-case scenarios usually involve people acting responsibly, taking heed of advice,

1012.86 -> and concentrating on their own safety. The worst-case scenarios become a reality when

1016.94 -> people decide to head for ground zero to try to help people caught in the disaster

1020.96 -> zone. Not only will there be few if any survivors after a nuclear blast,

1024.86 -> these would-be heroes will often sentence themselves to death due to the fallout.

1028.88 -> So what are the government’s plans now?

1030.92 -> Many of the plans from the Cold War are still in effect to some degree, just updated to modern

1035.48 -> technology that makes it easier to communicate and take action wherever the leadership may be. With

1040.28 -> our communications infrastructure being stronger than ever before, the odds are good that the

1044.42 -> government would be able to stay in contact with its citizens and keep them as calm as possible.

1048.32 -> But as for what would come next, that’s highly classified - and hopefully will stay so forever.

1053.66 -> Want to know more about this apocalyptic scenario? Check out “What If Russia

1057.5 -> Launched A Nuclear Bomb (Minute By Minute), or watch “This Is How You

1060.98 -> Actually Survive A Nuclear Attack” for what to do if the worst happens.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmRrWLFW7PM