Cold War Brinkmanship: Nuclear Arms, Civil Rights, Government Secrecy

by Alexander Devolpi

Involved in many Cold War events, the author became a insider, a nuclear physicist looking right into the dragon’s mouth, at the very weapons that made things so chilling and nearly calamitous. This isn’t simply an historical narrative; it’s also an investigative journalist’s exposé of the institutional complex that nurtured a nuclear-arms race almost to our oblivion, while fostering inhuman consequences. Nurturing both sides of the Cold War were mindless military-industrial complexes. No one else has given an account of such intense and personal experience — as technical manager, observer, and activist — insider or outsider. This first-hand narrative chronicles the half-century nuclear nerve-wracking situations, one global instability to another — tracking the Cold War, its anxieties, controversies, and impact. All of us wittingly or unwittingly had a stake in the nuclear-arms race. My father was a soldier of fortune, a mercenary with a lifelong career serving in American and other armies. When World War II broke out, I was sent to military school, then college. After a bachelor’s degree in journalism, obligatory active-duty followed in the Atlantic three years as a commissioned officer, partly during the Korean War, in the Reserves for 16 years, eventually the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Attending graduate school under the GI Bill, I became a PhD physicist, entering the esoteric domains of nuclear reactors and weapons — and later arms control and treaty verification. It didn’t take long working at a national laboratory to gain a conservative fear of atomic weapons. That gave me a seat at the table — literally lunch at cafeterias of nuclear laboratories, and at the most sensitive facilities of the former Soviet Union, as well as agencies and entities that functioned within the U.S. Gradually I gained access to most nuclear secrets, as well as decades of human inequities and governmental arrogance, unexpectedly becoming an expert in nuclear technology and weapons. In tracking Cold War history, skillful memoirs have been published by individuals who were decision makers, as well as assessments by professional historians. What distinguishes Cold War Brinkmanship is my first-hand role — knowledgeable insider, witness, participant — sometimes an activist and target of FBI investigation (documented under FOIA). Now, I’ve become an author and a knowledgeable source as the Trump presidency moves along. This personalized narrative tracks the Cold War, its anxieties, controversial issues, and impact. Whether you were a fellow citizen, part of the silent majority or vocal minority, or a conscientious bureaucrat — together we had a stake in the outcome of the frightful and expensive nuclear-arms race. Just a single conscientious mortal decision was (and still is) needed to activate the nuclear “football,” to incinerate and radiate. Standing by in every weaponized nuclear nation is someone awaiting the authorization for the chain of command to carry out orders of immense consequence. To hasten World War II’s end, such fateful decisions and consequential orders were carried out, destroying Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Something similar, or much worse, almost happened during the Cold War Cuban missile crisis. Our children, their children, people around the None ought to suffer such traumatic and dangerous times. With pockets of famine, civil injustice, wars of liberation, suicidal ideologies, natural disasters, other global instabilities — who needs a return to Cold War brinkmanship? Decisionmakers, be cautious!Maybe these recollections will demonstrate how difficult it was to contain the nuclear-arms race as it grew more alarming, more expensive, and more consequential. This book is written not by a high-level bureaucrat, but by someone who became a very-well-informed and concerned citizen, anti-war leader, and civil-rights activist.

676 pages, Paperback

Published November 5, 2017

Reviews

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

How we failed to stop the nuclear-arms race and human-rights violations

New York born Chicago author Alexander DeVolpi’s personal history is important to understanding the importance of this book. He served in the Korean War as a commissioned officer, continued his military involvement in Navy research as a LCDR-USNR before transitioning to national security and international peace when, after earning his degree in journalism, he earned a PhD in nuclear physics from Virginia Tech and worked at a US Government nuclear laboratory. As he states, ‘By default (through professional activity, relevant publications, and personal involvement), I’ve become a (self-appointed) leader in Cold War nuclear history. One feature that makes this book absolutely unique: the many exhaustive assessments that FBI investigators collected from my commanding officers, neighbors, friends, wives, acquaintances, colleagues, supervisors, and neighbors. Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) I’ve since obtained and examined these official security evaluations.’ Nurturing both sides of the Cold War were mindless military-industrial complexes. No one else has given an account of such intense and personal experience — as technical manager, observer, and activist — insider or outsider.

In his preface we learn – ‘Through my prism, you’ll see how official secrecy intruded on professional and public-interest activities, much of it reported through the eyes of government investigators. Fortunately the nuclear laboratory for which I worked was professionally and administratively insulated by the managing university contractor. Now motivating me is the desire (or ethical obligation) to pass on “silent-generation” experiences to new and future generations, especially those entering responsible positions in government — today President Trump and his administration. Quoting Yogi Bera, “it’s déjà vu all over again.” For millennials, many of whom were born before the Cold War ended, this book presents an in-depth reminder — not a momentary Twitter — more like pokemon with touchstones at key stages in history. Cold War Brinkmanship deals with past events for which you’re still paying taxes and worrying about, especially atomic weaponry. Going forward, you’ll need to keep costly nuclear policies in mind, not repeat them, especially when some retrograde policy makers get themselves
recycled into government’

This massive book is a first-hand narrative that chronicles the half-century nuclear crisis: nerve-wracking situations, one global instability to another — tracking the Cold War, its anxieties, controversies, and impact. ‘All of us wittingly or unwittingly had a stake in the nuclear-arms race.’

Having written six books that address nuclear technology and threats Alexander presents an impressive arsenal of information – facts and history and predictions about the influence of nuclear knowledge and tehnology that stuns while it informs. What makes the book so imperative to read is the focus on those facts as applied to our governments and our human rights. This is clearly a book that, despite the density of information, is a must read - particularly as we watch and hear the news (and ‘fake news’) of North Korea and the rants of our current president. Highly recommended.

[David Styles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was not exactly a pleasant book to read, nor an especially reassuring one. What was it, then? Enlightening, certainly. Eye-opening, definitely. Depressing, perhaps. Thought-provoking, absolutely.

DeVolpi takes us on a tour from the 1800s to the present day, of the US government generally having little regard for human life, honesty, or integrity. Yet, he does this in large part from his own extensive experience as a nuclear physicist, before he took to a more public advocacy role, and more recently, historian (hence the time covered in this book stretching back to before either he or nuclear weapons were around). Nuclear weapons—their technology, strategic implications, policy implications, etc—are the largest single topic in the book and a recurring theme, but DeVolpi does also cover areas of civil strife that aren't directly related to such, most notably class struggles and minority issues, most notably the treatment of the US's black population and the countermovements against such.

While the work looks at well over a century of death and deceit, the principal meat of the work is, as the title suggests, the cold war era. As an independent technician rather than a G-man, the author enjoyed a deep, close, and personal view into the nuclear programmes of other countries besides the US, including both sides of the iron curtain. To this end, while there is an underlying US-based cultural bias (notes of American exceptionalism and such), this is a far more even-keeled work than any other I’ve encountered on the topic, and remains steadfastly objective wherever possible.

A word on editing and formatting: this book was obviously carefully produced for its print publication, and then converted to e-book format. Some things were changed, lost, or generally screwed up in this conversion. Resultant errors include: emboldened headers sometimes appearing mid-sentence breaking up the text, things that describe themselves as being in side-boxes not being in side-boxes, missing spaces and line breaks in places, extra spaces and line breaks in places, and indexed items now appearing out of place (for example, a glossary has all the terms listed first, and all the definitions listed afterwards, rather than each term having its definition next to it; page reference indices have the same problem). Occasionally a line or paragraph is repeated.

However! While that makes the book sound very choppy, this work is approaching half a million words long and in fact one can go for many pages at a time without encountering a formatting error.

In short, this book is an absolute must for anyone with an interest in understanding how things really worked (or, as the case may be, how they really didn’t work), how close we were or weren’t to global annihilation at any given time, what if anything stops Trump launching nukes as whimsically as he sends forth tweets, and what the author—from his incredibly informed perspective—recommends regards policy, not to mention which risks have been greatly exaggerated or swept under carpets.

If you enjoy getting a deep, detailed, and almost uniquely well-placed personal view of 20th century history, then this is a book for you.