Nuclear Weapon Near Misses and Mistakes
Nuclear Risk at Times of High Tension
WarGames
In the 1983 movie WarGames, a tech-savvy high school student tries to gain access to a gaming company but instead unknowingly hacks into a U.S. military supercomputer. The student’s activity convinces the U.S. government that a Soviet nuclear attack is imminent. Just months after the movie's release, the world came dangerously close to a global nuclear war over a crisis similar to the movie’s plot.
1983
1983 was a tense year for U.S.–Soviet relations. In a March speech, President Reagan declared that the Soviet Union was an “evil empire,” which provoked Soviet mistrust. Tension continued in September, when a Korean passenger plane drifted into Soviet airspace and was shot down by the Soviet Air Force, which had mistakenly identified it as an American spy plane. All 269 passengers were killed.
"WarGames" movie poster, 1983.
Able Archer
In November, the United States and its allies participated in training: their annual Able Archer exercise. The goal was to prepare for a scenario in which they might need to fight a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. The Soviets were aware of the training, but 1983 was different because of changes to the exercise and high tension. Soviet leadership speculated that the training exercise was a disguised preparation for an actual attack. Agents looked for signs that the United States was planning an attack, even noting details like lights on late at night in government buildings, indicating important meetings, or increased blood bank reserves, suggesting expected wounded. Soviet nuclear-armed submarines were on high alert and nuclear-armed planes were ready on runways. The Soviet leaders kept their forces on hair-trigger readiness for 24 hours before deciding to back down, as there were no more signs of an impending U.S. attack.
