Nuclear accident: Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety

Nuclear weapons are immensely powerful, with the potential damage from an explosion being of much higher levels than all previous such weapons. The explosions of a nuclear weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan that caused the end of the second world war showed the immense power of nuclear weapons, and those were on the smaller scale. Modern nuclear weapons, especially the hydrogen bombs, are of a scale that is much more powerful than the ones that were used in Japan. And the number of these weapons (stored in missile systems) are in the thousands, spread all over the country. Most people staying near to these missile silos are totally unaware of how close they live to such destructive power; although these warheads are supposed to be designed that they will not explode unless a specific series of processes are carried out, and hence the risk of detonating accidentally is ruled out.
This book showcases that while even a powerful explosion next to the warhead did not explode it, there is always some amount of uncertainty when dealing with such a weapon. Even the fact that the missile has a large amount of very dangerous fuel adds to the complication in dealing with such matters.




The Titan missiles were a significant part of the US strategic missile fleet and were mated to a 9 megaton warhead, the most powerful warhead in the US stockpile of nuclear weapons. These were sited in silos across many parts of the country and were loaded with a fuel that was more stable than previous (although stability is always a relative measure - these propellants were far more dangerous and unstable than the petrol or gasoline we use in our normal vehicles). One of these silos was near Damascus in rural Arkansas, close to Little Rock. A missile is essentially a metal pipe that contains a lot of high explosive power propellant with a much more explosive warhead on top.
Imagine a regular maintenance of the missile, and a socket drops from the personnel who are doing the maintenance. They watch in horror while the socket plummets down into the silo, finally hitting the body of the missile and cause the fuel to start gushing out from the hole. From then on, it becomes like a real life high speed film, with disaster starting everyone in the area, conflicting scenes of responsibility, local authorities knowing that some disaster is unfolding but not having control of the area (that control was with the military), and finally sending in volunteers to control the situation, followed immediately by such a huge explosion that the warhead was thrown some distance away (and recovered).
The incident has been covered in books and in documentaries, and when you see the documentary, the theory that a warhead is totally safer even under these circumstances seems like theory, not something that you really want to see being under test.

Israel and the Bomb - By Avner Cohen (1999) - The fascinating story about the Israeli bomb

Israel is a very small country in the Middle East, a country that was formed soon after the Holocaust saw millions of Jews in Europe to be murdered in hideous ways, using the official state machinery of Nazi Germany. It caused a huge upheaval in the politics of the Middle East, with large migrations of Jews from all over Europe to the Middle East with a demand for a country of their own, where they would not be subjected to extermination. However, safety of the new nation was not easy, with it being invaded by its neighbors as soon as it was formed, and struggled to defeat them. There was nothing easier for a neighboring dictator (or democratically elected leader) to become popular than to promise the defeat of Israel and force the population to the ocean (and with the size of Israel and its width), this was no empty threat. 

As a result, the safety for the Israeli nation was in having a military that was far superior to the combined might of its neighbors (or in terms of tactics, such as destroying the standing Egyptian Air Force in a quick attack in a war); and a weapon that promised a much superior capability was the atomic weapon (and Israel has not flinched from attacking those who also sought to develop nuclear weapons, such as its attacks on nuclear reactors in Syria and earlier, in Iraq). However, for developing a nuclear weapon, you need a strategy, you need technology and you need nuclear material. This book seeks to explain all of those, including the development of the Israeli nuclear effort and its attempts to hoodwink the French and US Governments over a period of time. 

For Israel, the nuclear weapon remains an enigma; the Government has never admitted having one; anybody in Israel who seeks to expose any details finds the full might of the Israeli state descending on him; and because of its internal politics, the US Government and political class have not had any discussion on this topic for decades now. Neighboring countries also do not try to talk about it, since that would admit to their people that they cannot seek to defeat the Israelis and that their own leaders are impotent in developing a counter nuclear weapon. However, the Israeli nuclear weapon has come close to being used twice, in the 1967 and the 1973 (the position in the 1973 war more dire, and Golda Meir, the Israeli PM, had apparently felt that the war position was very adverse and had considered the option of using 13 nuclear weapons unless Israel became safe again).

The book provides a history of the 2 decades that led to the development of nuclear weapons in Israel, the period of the 1950's and 60's. It was David Ben-Gurion, the warrior leader of Israel, who authorized and started the process of this development; collaborating with France and the United States for getting the technology and the material, but without them really believing that Israel was upto this (or in the case of the US, by the end, tacitly admitting the program - to the extent that it was supposed to be stolen material from a US nuclear reactor that was used for many of the weapons developed by Israel). 

Some of this was at a time when the US administration (especially under President Kennedy) was against nuclear proliferation besides those who had already had the weapons and hence was trying to figure out what Israel was doing. But other administrations in the United States struggled with how hard to push, till the Nixon administration finally gave it up, with the understanding that Israel would not test the bomb, and the US would not ask about the bomb.

The book is worthy reading, and is not a boring thesis, but more like a novel, making for interesting reading for a wider audience.

Floodgate (1983) - Authored by Alistair Maclean - Irish terrorists threatening the Netherlands with water

Alistair MacLean is a Scottish writer who specialized in writing thrillers and crime stories. He was third son of a Scottish minister and joined the Royal Navy during the world war two. He was a senior torpedo operator at the height of his career. He was in the thick of the war theater during the world war and saw action on many fronts especially the arctic north. After retiring he started penning his novels based on the war he saw and many of them became best sellers. MacLean never looked back as a writer until his death in 1987.
Floodgate is the second book of Alistair MacLean to be set in Holland. The first was puppet on the chain which dealt with the Netherlands underground drug mafia. He brings in the familiar detective Peter van Effen who continues his sleuthing in this book.
Schipol airport in Amsterdam is flooded and the planes are floating around aimlessly. The dykes which kept the north sea out has been breached and the sea has devoured Schipol completely and the authorities are completely baffled. Peter Van Effen, the detective par excellence is brought in by the authorities. Soon FFF, an Irish Liberation force calls in claiming responsibility and threatens to carry on more strikes against the dykes. This pours in the panic as a breach through the dykes would submerge Holland completely under water.



Van Effen goes in to action and checks in all the employees of the airport. He suspects informants among the staff would have helped the terrorist. In the mean time the terrorist have acquired nuclear weapons and threaten to detonate them in the sea triggering a tsunami to submerge Holland.
He is ably assisted by beautiful assistant Annemarie Meijer, an heiress to a large fortune and other beautiful women. Van Effen is very close with to the dreaded underground gang the Krakers and enlist their help to combat the terrorist. Soon the game starts to outwit the terrorists. The FFF has to be stopped for the interest of Holland.
Soon the action hottens up with Agnelli the head of the Krakers gang along with his brothers infiltrate the gang and pass on information to Van Effen. Soon many operatives like Anne Marie and Marie are captured and held for ransom. The leader of the terrorist Samuelson is supposedly an earl who is motivated by revenge for the killing of his sons. Sometimes you feel that MacLean just awakens sympathies for his character even when he planning in human ways to kill.
But the ultimate action is ingenious, although a little tame for such a grand operation. Van Effen successfully gases all the terrorist unconscious and arrest all of them and rescue the hostages. Anne Marie and he predictably fall in love with each other and walk in to the sunset.
This may not be MacLean's best books of the time but the plot is the winner. A very cleverly thought out action plan with with a tame ending is Floodgate. Still I would recommend it for its sheer clever storyline from MacLean.

Goodbye California (published in 1977) - By Author Alistair Maclean - the story of attempts to exploit a earthquake fault

Alistair MacLean is a Scottish writer who specialized in writing thrillers and crime stories. He was third son of a Scottish minister and joined the Royal Navy during the world war two. He was a senior torpedo operator at the height of his career. He was in the thick of the war theater during the world war and saw action on many fronts especially the arctic north. After retiring he started penning his novels based on the war he saw and many of them became best sellers. Maclean never looked back as a writer until his death in 1987.
Published in 1971, this book deals with the current flavor of terror, Islamic terrorism. MacLean describes the future terrorist and their methodologies, like nuclear destruction of the Earth. This shows that his thinking was much ahead of his time and today after 4 decades the world is fighting the same war.
MacLean has taken the theme from the Earthquake which shook California in 1906 resulting in wide spread damage to the tune of sixty million dollars and large number of deaths. The citizens of California still live under the threat of another earthquake because of the San Andreas fault line passing through the city. This ring of fire in the Pacific has been the cause of earthquakes in Japan and South America in the later decades. What if some man made activity result in the destabilization of the San Andreas fault line? This novel is taken from this premise.



Sergeant Ryder is the honest police detective who has little regard for his superiors as most of them are corrupt and not talented. He undertakes an investigation in to the corruption in the higher offices of the police department. Some Islamic terrorist steal nuclear weapons and take multiple hostages which include Ryder's wife.
So Ryder has to battle corruption, bureaucracy and pig headed superiors who try to stone wall his investigations. Ryder after a wild goose chase conclude that the Russian connection is not for real and the origin of terrorists are different. Then the game begins.
After a few twists and turns Ryder gets to turn the table on the terrorist with help of unlikely allies and manages to save the world. This book is not considered the good books of MacLean. There are so many plots and subplots which are weak and will not stand the scrutiny of the reader.
The only redeeming feature of this book is the nuggets of information that MacLean throws our way about he earth quakes and its aftermath. Maybe in the 1970's it may have seemed very far fetched, but somehow it seems all too plausible. For action buffs this too results in disappointment as there is lot of sermonizing about governments and corruption. This book is about the angst of one man in this case Ryder against the nepotism prevalent around the world. For the first time reader the advice is not to be disheartened by this book because the story teller has given us great pieces earlier.

The Golden Rendezvous (published in 1962) - by Alistair Maclean - an action packed ocean thriller on a cruise ship

Alistair MacLean is a Scottish writer who specialized in writing thrillers and crime stories. He was third son of a Scottish minister and joined the Royal Navy during the world war two. He was a senior torpedo operator at the height of his career. He was in the thick of the war theater during the world war and saw action on many fronts especially the arctic north. After retiring he started penning his novels based on the war he saw and many of them became best sellers. Maclean never looked back as a writer until his death in 1987.
Because of his war experiences, his novels are also high on the action content. The emotional and the romantic angle is not very much touched upon by Maclean. His characters are highly cynical men who are always part of the high octane action and push themselves against all odds with out any thought for their safety. The elements also play a very important in MacLean's writings.
The golden rendezvous is an action packed ocean thriller. It takes place aboard SS Campari which is a ex-freight ship which has been turned in to a luxury cruise ship. It is weighing anchor in the exotic Caribbean. The ship is fitted with all the luxury accessories that a man can think off and is patronized by the who's who of the society. It is captained by the mercurial and moody Captain Bullen.



A series of events sabotage the voyage of the Campari. The island where the Campari is weighing anchor is enveloped in a coup. Soon certain passengers are recalled back because of family emergencies and their place is taken by sinister new ones. Apart from this a rumor floats around that a nuclear bomb has been stolen from a nearby naval base.
All this bothers the hero, chief officer John Carter. He has to contend with the temper of Captain Bullen and is distracted by the attentions of the millionaire heiress Susan Beresford. During the shooting he is severely injured and embarks on a mission to find out the truth. He finds to his dismay that the criminal mastermind, Carreras has smuggled in a Nuclear device. Soon the action unfolds with all the passengers being held as hostages with a ransom call of million dollars gold in bullion.
Now carter with his injured leg has to foil the kidnappers and disarm the device. He does in-spite of the death defying activities in which he is ably assisted by Beresford and the doctor. They with the help of a scientist neutralize the nuclear bomb and prevent the escape of the culprits. Carter also finds time to melt into the green eyes of Susan Beresford.
Alistair MacLean has cleverly put in his navy experiences within the book. His knowledge of the navy, the ships, nautical terminology and the ocean is impeccable. You just fall in love with the brave soldier whose death defying stunts are described so vividly.
This book was made in to a movie staring Richard Harris and the lovely Ann Turkel. A good read for action buff's.

In High Places by Arthur Hailey (1960)

Arthur Hailey (April 5, 1920 – November 24, 2004) was a novelist very popular for some of his books such as Wheels, Airport, Hotel, Overload, etc. He was not that prolific, in the sense that he wrote in total around 10-12 books, but some of his books such as Wheels, Airport, and Hotel were very popular and remained on bestseller lists for quite some time.
Arthur Hailey books present detailed views of specific industries, such as Wheels about the automobile industry, Hotel about the hotel industry combined with the civil rights movement and racial discrimination, and so on. Some critics accuse him of covering up a lack of good literary skills by disguising it through providing a lot of detail.



In High Places was the third book by Arthur Hailey (following Runway Zero-Eight and The Final Diagnosis), and covered an area that is still not covered too well even now. There are numerous books and movies on the politics of the United States and Great Britain, but Canada has never been covered by major books or movies in terms of politics. In High Places was a book that took a look at the politics at the top level in Canada, including the Prime Minister.
The book covers the issues plaguing the Prime Minister of Canada, James McCallum Howden. The Prime Minister is a dedicated person, spending huge amounts of time for his work and not able to spend the required amount of time with his wife, Margaret who understands the situation. What adds to the tension in the book is the situation where there is a huge stand-off with the Soviet Union with the threat of nuclear war seeming almost inevitable. A nuclear war would mean that missile interception and destruction (with a nuclear fallout happening over Canadian territory and poisoning its land mass). There is the pressure of signing a pact with the US called the Act of Union, but that would reduce Canadian sovereignty by giving the US a much greater responsibility of Canada's defense and its armed forces, not a prospect that is easily acceptable.
And of course, there is the inevitable back-stabbing, intrigue, involvement with women at the highest levels, and so on, which make this a hugely interesting book.

This Immortal - by Roger Zelazny

This Immortal was the first novel by Roger Zelazny (published in 1966), and was of a level good enough that it shared the Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year with Frank Herbert's "Dune". When I first read the novel many years back, it seemed very ordinary at first reading (in fact, I struggled to understand the meaning of many of the words and people in the novel - maybe if I had been born in the Greek Isles, I would have understood it better); however for the next few days, I kept on thinking about the novel, and read it again within a week. On second reading, it appealed much much more. Now, once every 1-2 years, I dust out the copy of the novel that I have and read it again (and I do not get bored by it at all).


I was reading a review of the novel in another place, and somebody pointed out something very pertinent about reading the novel - "the best way to understand "This Immortal" is to read Lawrence Durrell's chronicles of the Greek Isles, most especially "Prospero's Cell" and "Reflections on a Marine Venus"---or better yet, read Percy Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound," which is referred to more than once in this novel." Seemed very pertinent. But no matter, this is a fascinating novel and I can understand why this book remains very popular (with a new print coming out in 2007) and a number of authors have claimed to be inspired by the author.
The book is set in an earth sometime in the future, where a nuclear war between human and human condemned vast sections of the earth to be uninhabitable; vast sections of humanity were saved by moving them through space to other worlds. All this was done by an alien blue race called Vegans. They also helped the small number of Earth's population who remained to survive, but all the remaining places on earth were now owned be Vegans.
In the midst of all this, This Immortal refers to the character of the hero of this novel, a huge man who is also very ugly, with one leg shorter than the other. He was there from the nuclear war, but does not want to advertise his immortal nature by changing names. He is Conrad Nomikos, a Greek, born on Christmas Eve. In an earlier time soon after the nuclear war, he prevented the Vegans from converting the remaining portions of earth into resorts. He is otherwise not a person given to many displays, preferring to keep things quiet. He is just currently a caretaker and is also giving security to a rich visiting Vegan, Cort Myshtigo, who is traveling all over for reasons that are not very clear. There are many who want Cort dead, and it is upto Nomikos to keep Cort alive, and to figure out what the purpose of his visit is.
Earlier, Nomikos was heading an organization called the Returnist's - getting people to return so that earthlings can recover their planet from the Vegans. He is now somewhat removed from that mission, and is ambivalent about the Vegans now. During the course of showing Cort around the various ruins, he also protests him from various attempts. Some of those attempts seem very complex, and some very simple, many of them placing Conrad in severe danger.
Amusingly, his wife Cassandra calls him a kallikanzaros', which a Greek term for a little cloven-hooved satyr, who causes mischief of every kind. Conrad has already tricked the people around him about his origins and the death of the character who had his previous name. Now, he has to keep Cort alive till the end, when the surprising end is revealed.

The Fourth Protocol (1984)

Imagine the times; there was a widespread protest movement in Europe against the deployment of nuclear-armed missiles and against American bases having nuclear arms on them. In addition, there is still a great amount of tension between the Soviet Union and the US, and a new unknown Secretary-General (Gorbachev, but mostly unknown) has taken office. He is supposed to be young, and given the fact that he was able to move into the Secretary-General's office in such a rapid manner, extremely clever and cunning.
What Frederick Forsyth did in 'The Fourth Protocol' was to spin up these concepts along with spy-work and some believable nuclear terrorism into a thriller that was gripping till the end. You know that the good guys will prevail in the end, but till that time, things could go either way. The further positive was the inclusion of some real characters including Neil Kinnock, and Kim Philby.


There are many positives about this novel; it has a believable cast of events, the technology talked about seems possible, every treaty could have secret protocols (and the fourth protocol seems very logical) believable enough to be cast as the background of the novel. The novel was also made into a movie of the same name starring Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan.
The novel is made on the concept of a new Soviet Secretary-General being ambitious enough to try to explore British popular disaffection with the placement of nuclear missiles on their country. The plan, called Operation Aurora calls for the smuggling of parts of a nuclear bomb onto British territory and then exploding this very near an American base. Such a move could push British dis-satisfaction away from the Conservative Government of Margaret Thatcher and towards a left party. And then the most amazing thing would happen. The hard left of the Labour party, consisting of Marxist-Leninists would take over the leadership of the Labour party and set in force a series of measures that would move Britain away from friendship with the Americans.
Why call the novel 'The Fourth Protocol' ? Well, because supposedly the 1968 Non-proliferation Treaty had a set of secret protocols, out of which the number 4 was about no nation secretly transporting a nuclear device onto the territory of another nation.
The novel starts with a robbery in which the thief also finds some secrets (defense secrets) and knows that here is some treason; and sends these onto the defense ministry. And thus starts a secret enquiry into the source of this espionage. Eventually the spy is found out and turned over. At the same time, there is a Soviet plan to explode a nuclear device near an American base so as to get Labour to win the elections and then to get the hard left to take over. As this plan starts to take effect, one of the bomb parts is found and an investigation is launched. And thus starts the thriller, with the match between the MI5 officer John Preston and the illegal Soviet agent Valeri Petrofsky (a spesnatz officer); the MI5 officer a step behind but fighting to find out what the plan is and to stop it. A great thriller.