The super secret soviet doomsday machine

rhadamanthus · Sep 22, 2009

Really interesting (and terrifying) article.

Excerpts:

The technical name was Perimeter, but some called it Mertvaya Ruka, or Dead Hand. It was built 25 years ago and remained a closely guarded secret. With the demise of the USSR, word of the system did leak out, but few people seemed to notice. In fact, though Yarynich and a former Minuteman launch officer named Bruce Blair have been writing about Perimeter since 1993 in numerous books and newspaper articles, its existence has not penetrated the public mind or the corridors of power. The Russians still won't discuss it, and Americans at the highest levels—including former top officials at the State Department and White House—say they've never heard of it. When I recently told former CIA director James Woolsey that the USSR had built a doomsday device, his eyes grew cold. "I hope to God the Soviets were more sensible than that." They weren't.
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A few months later, Reagan made one of the most provocative moves of the Cold War. He announced that the US was going to develop a shield of lasers and nuclear weapons in space to defend against Soviet warheads. He called it missile defense; critics mocked it as "Star Wars."

To Moscow it was the Death Star—and it confirmed that the US was planning an attack. It would be impossible for the system to stop thousands of incoming Soviet missiles at once, so missile defense made sense only as a way of mopping up after an initial US strike. The US would first fire its thousands of weapons at Soviet cities and missile silos. Some Soviet weapons would survive for a retaliatory launch, but Reagan's shield could block many of those. Thus, Star Wars would nullify the long-standing doctrine of mutually assured destruction, the principle that neither side would ever start a nuclear war since neither could survive a counterattack.

As we know now, Reagan was not planning a first strike. According to his private diaries and personal letters, he genuinely believed he was bringing about lasting peace. (He once told Gorbachev he might be a reincarnation of the human who invented the first shield.) The system, Reagan insisted, was purely defensive. But as the Soviets knew, if the Americans were mobilizing for attack, that's exactly what you'd expect them to say. And according to Cold War logic, if you think the other side is about to launch, you should do one of two things: Either launch first or convince the enemy that you can strike back even if you're dead.
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A decade and a half later, Stanley Kubrick's satirical masterpiece Dr. Strangelove permanently embedded the idea in the public imagination. In the movie, a rogue US general sends his bomber wing to preemptively strike the USSR. The Soviet ambassador then reveals that his country has just deployed a device that will automatically respond to any nuclear attack by cloaking the planet in deadly "cobalt-thorium-G."

"The whole point of the doomsday machine is lost if you keep it a secret!" cries Dr. Strangelove. "Why didn't you tell the world?" After all, such a device works as a deterrent only if the enemy is aware of its existence. In the movie, the Soviet ambassador can only lamely respond, "It was to be announced at the party congress on Monday."

In real life, however, many Mondays and many party congresses passed after Perimeter was created. So why didn't the Soviets tell the world, or at least the White House, about it? No evidence exists that top Reagan administration officials knew anything about a Soviet doomsday plan. George Shultz, secretary of state for most of Reagan's presidency, told me that he had never heard of it.

In fact, the Soviet military didn't even inform its own civilian arms negotiators. "I was never told about Perimeter," says Yuli Kvitsinsky, lead Soviet negotiator at the time the device was created. And the brass still won't talk about it today. In addition to Yarynich, a few other people confirmed the existence of the system to me—notably former Soviet space official Alexander Zheleznyakov and defense adviser Vitali Tsygichko—but most questions about it are still met with scowls and sharp nyets. At an interview in Moscow this February with Vladimir Dvorkin, another former official in the Strategic Rocket Forces, I was ushered out of the room almost as soon as I brought up the topic.

So why was the US not informed about Perimeter? Kremlinologists have long noted the Soviet military's extreme penchant for secrecy, but surely that couldn't fully explain what appears to be a self-defeating strategic error of extraordinary magnitude.

The silence can be attributed partly to fears that the US would figure out how to disable the system. But the principal reason is more complicated and surprising. According to both Yarynich and Zheleznyakov, Perimeter was never meant as a traditional doomsday machine. The Soviets had taken game theory one step further than Kubrick, Szilard, and everyone else: They built a system to deter themselves.

By guaranteeing that Moscow could hit back, Perimeter was actually designed to keep an overeager Soviet military or civilian leader from launching prematurely during a crisis. The point, Zheleznyakov says, was "to cool down all these hotheads and extremists. No matter what was going to happen, there still would be revenge. Those who attack us will be punished."
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rhester · Sep 22, 2009

rhad, you deserve at least one post

Invisible Fan · Sep 22, 2009

Pretty ghastly article.

Can't blame the Russians though. We are the responsible party for maintaining and increasing nuclear primacy.

aghast · Sep 22, 2009

Just as long as I'm one of the guys preselected by the computer to go down into the mines to carry out my patriotic duties, I'm totally fine with this.

General "Buck" Turgidson: Doctor, you mentioned the ratio of ten women to each man. Now, wouldn't that necessitate the abandonment of the so-called monogamous sexual relationship, I mean, as far as men were concerned?

Dr. Strangelove: Regrettably, yes. But it is, you know, a sacrifice required for the future of the human race. I hasten to add that since each man will be required to do prodigious... service along these lines, the women will have to be selected for their sexual characteristics which will have to be of a highly stimulating nature.
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aghast · Sep 22, 2009

This New York Times article from 1993, "Russia Has 'Doomsday' Machine, U.S. Expert Says," explains it thusly:

...The heart of the system is said to lie in deep underground bunkers south of Moscow and at backup locations. In a crisis, military officials would send a coded message to the bunkers, switching on the dead hand. If nearby ground-level senors detected a nuclear attack on Moscow, and if a break was detected in communications links with top military commanders, the system would send low-frequency signals over underground antennas to special rockets.

Flying high over missile fields and other military sites, these rockets in turn would broadcast attack orders to missiles, bombers and, via radio relays, submarines at sea. Contrary to some Western beliefs, Dr. Blair says, many of Russia's nuclear-armed missiles in underground silos and on mobile launchers can be fired automatically...
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In light of the Wired article noting lack of reply from top levels of the Pentagon, I found this amusing: the Times article sought outside experts for opinion. One of them just happens to be the current Secretary of Defense:

...Robert M. Gates, Director of Central Intelligence during the Bush Administration, said the dead hand was conceivable in light of other recent surprises about Russia and its military machinery.

Implausible But Not Impossible

"My instinctive reaction is that they wouldn't do that," he said. "But when you look at the things that people said they wouldn't do, and we later learned they did, we ought to be cautious about ruling it out."

Mr. Gates added that the United States should ask Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin if the system still exists, since if it does, "it's terribly uncivilized."
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nickb492 · Sep 22, 2009

What is this what you are really mean

+=

ONE WORD..........AWESOME

Vinsanity · Sep 22, 2009

Russia's Military Strength > USA's

aghast · Sep 22, 2009

Vinsanity said:

Russia's Military Strength > USA's
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The whole idea of a "doomsday" machine is that it is a defensive system, to deter a stronger opponent.

A few months later, Reagan made one of the most provocative moves of the Cold War. He announced that the US was going to develop a shield of lasers and nuclear weapons in space to defend against Soviet warheads. He called it missile defense; critics mocked it as "Star Wars."

To Moscow it was the Death Star—and it confirmed that the US was planning an attack. It would be impossible for the system to stop thousands of incoming Soviet missiles at once, so missile defense made sense only as a way of mopping up after an initial US strike. The US would first fire its thousands of weapons at Soviet cities and missile silos. Some Soviet weapons would survive for a retaliatory launch, but Reagan's shield could block many of those. Thus, Star Wars would nullify the long-standing doctrine of mutually assured destruction, the principle that neither side would ever start a nuclear war since neither could survive a counterattack.

As we know now, Reagan was not planning a first strike. According to his private diaries and personal letters, he genuinely believed he was bringing about lasting peace. (He once told Gorbachev he might be a reincarnation of the human who invented the first shield.) The system, Reagan insisted, was purely defensive. But as the Soviets knew, if the Americans were mobilizing for attack, that's exactly what you'd expect them to say. And according to Cold War logic, if you think the other side is about to launch, you should do one of two things: Either launch first or convince the enemy that you can strike back even if you're dead.
Click to expand...

Ottomaton · Sep 22, 2009

aghast said:

The whole idea of a "doomsday" machine is that it is a defensive system, to deter a stronger opponent.
Click to expand...

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aghast · Sep 22, 2009

We must not allow a mineshaft gap!

Landlord Landry · Sep 22, 2009

"Soviet power is a myth. Great show. There are no spare parts. Nothing is working, nothing, it's nothing but painted rust. But you, you need to keep the Russian myth alive to maintain your military industrial complex. Your system depends on Russia being perceived as a mortal threat. It's not a threat. It was never a threat. It will never be a threat. It's a rotted, bloated cow."

-Valentin Mironov

KingCheetah · Sep 22, 2009

Very interesting article thanks for posting. It was more of a fail safe system to ensure that all their remaining nukes would be fired in the event of a massive and successful first strike as opposed to some end of the world scenario. The US had similar systems -- both countries probably still have them actually (IMO).

DonkeyMagic · Sep 23, 2009

Vinsanity said:

Russia's Military Strength > USA's
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please...that's been proven untrue.

signed,

CrazyDave · Sep 23, 2009

One of the best films ever made. Sellers is incredible in all roles.

Plus, Darth Vader is a good guy.

I think all will be well if we just keep pumping fluoride into the water supply and keep the commies away from our precious bodily fluids.

brantonli24 · Sep 23, 2009

I've got to say, that's a pretty good way to end an article...

Rocket River · Sep 23, 2009

http://www.jointogether.org/news/headlines/inthenews/2009/russian-leader-set-to-tackle.html

"According to Russia's National Institute of Health, every year Russians drink the equivalent of 4.8 gallons (18 liters) of pure rubbing alcohol on average. Thirty-eight percent of Russians ages 20 to 39 -- and 55 percent of those ages 40 to 59 -- suffer from alcoholism. An average of 30,000 people die of alcohol poisoning in Russia each year."
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and we thought DRUNK DRIVING was an issue . .. .
what about DRUNK DRIVING THE SOCIO-POLITICAL-MILITARY Machine

Rocket River
so . . . is it just something that launches the missiles whether someone pushes the button or not?

Surfguy · Sep 23, 2009

The doomsday device was featured in the movie "Space Cowboys" as brought to you by Clint Eastwood.

Pipe · Sep 23, 2009

I guess all these Russian guys just want to help Nicholas Thompson sell more books.

aghast · Sep 23, 2009

CrazyDave said:

One of the best films ever made. Sellers is incredible in all roles.

Plus, Darth Vader is a good guy.

I think all will be well if we just keep pumping fluoride into the water supply and keep the commies away from our precious bodily fluids.
Click to expand...

Keep pumping fluoride into the water supply? Mr. President, I'm beginning to smell a big fat Commie rat.

A_3PO · Sep 23, 2009

Here is the real Doomsday Machine

Just ask this guy

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