1983 Soviet Nuclear False Alarm Incident
On September 26, 1983, the nuclear early warning system of the Soviet Union twice reported the launch of American Minuteman ICBMs from bases in the United States. These missile attack warnings were correctly identified as a false alarm by Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov, an officer of the Soviet Air Defence Forces. This decision may have prevented an erroneous retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States and its Western allies. Investigation of the satellite warning system later confirmed that the system had malfunctioned.
Read more about 1983 Soviet Nuclear False Alarm Incident: Background, Incident, Aftermath
Famous quotes containing the words soviet, nuclear, false, alarm and/or incident:
“The tremendous outflow of intellectuals that formed such a prominent part of the general exodus from Soviet Russia in the first years of the Bolshevist Revolution seems today like the wanderings of some mythical tribe whose bird-signs and moon-signs I now retrieve from the desert dust.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“We now recognize that abuse and neglect may be as frequent in nuclear families as love, protection, and commitment are in nonnuclear families.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“Approval of what is approved of
Is as false as a well-kept vow.”
—Sir John Betjeman (1906–1984)
“Dignity takes alarm at the unexpected sound of laughter.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“In the extent and proper structure of the Union, therefore, we behold a republican remedy for the diseases most incident to republican government.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)