SIOP, The Secret U. S. Plan For Nuclear War

by Peter Pringle, William Arkin

How was it put together? Who decides what targets to hit and why? When and where would it be put into action? Using recently declassified documents and interviews with government officials and military planners, the authors have pieced together an absorbing history of the Pentagon's most secret war plan.They have unraveled the huge, hidden network of satellites, computers, radar, and microwave links that gathers intelligence on the Soviet Union and would help to execute the S.I.O.P. in time of war. They compare Washington's rhetoric to the cold reality of the actual war plans on the shelves at Strategic Air Command and at Navy headquarters, and the result is a fascinating study of military realities and political deception.Finally, they expose a new facet of the arms race in President Reagan's nuclear proposals--the outlay of billions of dollars for new communications systems and underground bunkers so that the United States can fight an extended nuclear war. These proposals, the authors contend, will dangerously erode the traditional civilian control over the firing of nuclear weapons.

Genres: Military Fiction

287 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Peter Pringle is a veteran British foreign correspondent. He is theauthor and coauthor of several nonfiction books, including th ebestselling Those Are Real Bullets, Aren't They? He lives in New York City.

Series:
* Arthur Hemmings Mystery

Reviews

[Myrianthi Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

the military jargon and the acronyms were overall confusing and the message of the book was demoralizing as hell. However, the info on the reconnaissance planes was cool, and it was really interesting to learn about the USS Liberty being bombed by Israel (also I googled it, the Liberty had an American flag on it, there's no way Israel didn't know.)

[Kit · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was fortunate in a sense in reading this book after the end of the cold war, rather than during its penultimate phase in the mid 1980's. I imagine that it would have been a very sobering book indeed if you were reading it knowing this was all going on around, or mostly under, you.

For me it was worth reading just to start to appreciate the problems you have in handling a global communications network that was likely to be massively degraded by the activity it was monitoring. When you stop and think about that, it makes the SIOP critical but also impressive. It was a culmination of all of the defence and intelligence knowledge at the time and as such very carefully protected. Its impressive it was possible to write this book at all!