Close calls with nuclear weapons
The Nuclear Threat Initiative, 2014
Abstract
Both the United States and Russia keep nuclear-armed missiles on high alert for immediate launch, increasing the risk of accidental, mistaken, or unauthorized launches. Numerous incidents of accidents and errors have eroded nuclear safety measures. Technical glitches, human errors, misinterpreted incidents, unauthorized actions, and lack of training have all caused problems that brought the world close to nuclear disaster. Many incidents involved failures in the series of safety measures, making a catastrophe more likely. Taking missiles off hair-trigger alert would reduce the risk of unintended launch. – AI-generated abstract.
