US nearly detonated atomic bomb over North Carolina - secret document

[bananas]

Source: Guardian

Exclusive: Journalist uses Freedom of Information Act to disclose 1961 accident in which one switch averted catastrophe

A secret document, published in declassified form for the first time by the Guardian today, reveals that the US Air Force came dramatically close to detonating an atom bomb over North Carolina that would have been 260 times more powerful than the device that devastated Hiroshima.

The document, obtained by the investigative journalist Eric Schlosser under the Freedom of Information Act, gives the first conclusive evidence that the US was narrowly spared a disaster of monumental proportions when two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs were accidentally dropped over Goldsboro, North Carolina on 23 January 1961. The bombs fell to earth after a B-52 bomber broke up in mid-air, and one of the devices behaved precisely as a nuclear weapon was designed to behave in warfare: its parachute opened, its trigger mechanisms engaged, and only one low-voltage switch prevented untold carnage.

Each bomb carried a payload of 4 megatons – the equivalent of 4 million tons of TNT explosive. Had the device detonated, lethal fallout could have been deposited over Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia and as far north as New York city – putting millions of lives at risk.

Though there has been persistent speculation about how narrow the Goldsboro escape was, the US government has repeatedly publicly denied that its nuclear arsenal has ever put Americans' lives in jeopardy through safety flaws. But in the newly-published document, a senior engineer in the Sandia national laboratories responsible for the mechanical safety of nuclear weapons concludes that "one simple, dynamo-technology, low voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe".

<snip>

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/20/usaf-atomic-bomb-north-carolina-1961

[bananas]

1. Atom bomb nearly exploded over North Carolina in 1961: UK paper

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/20/us-usa-bomb-idUSBRE98J11N20130920

Atom bomb nearly exploded over North Carolina in 1961: UK paper

LONDON | Fri Sep 20, 2013 7:06pm EDT

(Reuters) - A U.S. atom bomb nearly exploded in 1961 over North Carolina that would have been 260 times more powerful than the device that devastated Hiroshima, according to a declassified document published in a British newspaper on Friday.

The Guardian newspaper said the document, obtained by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser under the Freedom of Information Act, gave the first conclusive evidence that the United States came close to a disaster in January 1961.

The incident happened when two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs were accidentally dropped over Goldsboro, North Carolina, after a B-52 bomber broke up in midair.

There has been persistent speculation about how serious the incident was and the U.S. government has repeatedly denied its nuclear arsenal put Americans' lives at risk through safety flaws, the newspaper said.

<snip>

[bananas]

2. Goldsboro revisited: account of hydrogen bomb near-disaster over North Carolina – declassified docum

The document is on this page:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/sep/20/goldsboro-revisited-declassified-document

Goldsboro revisited: account of hydrogen bomb near-disaster over North Carolina – declassified document

This document was written on 22 October 1969 by Parker F Jones, the supervisor of the nuclear weapons safety department at Sandia national laboratories. The document has recently been declassified having been acquired under freedom of information provisions by the investigative reporter Eric Schlosser for his new book Command and Control. It is published here for the first time.

In the document, Jones gives his response to a passage in a book by Dr Ralph Lapp, a physicist involved in the Manhattan Project that developed the first nuclear bombs, that describes the accident in 1961 in which two hydrogen bombs were dropped inadvertently over North Carolina. An extract of Lapp's book is reprinted on the left hand column of the first page of this document, and Jones's expert response is printed on the right hand column.

The second page of the document is all in Jones's words, giving his expert opinion on the serious nature of the accident and how close America came to catastrophe

<snip>

[supernova]

3. Seymour Johnson AFB

FYI SJ AFB is in Goldsboro.

http://www.seymourjohnson.af.mil/



Holy Fuck! If it had happened, I wouldn't be talking to you right now.

[jberryhill]

4. See more Johnson?

Is that an Air Force Base or a porn production company?

[olddad56]

16. I wish I had more Johnson to see.

[blkmusclmachine]

5. May have been part of the U.S. "Operation Northwoods" to drum up support for a War against Cuba:

"Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans included the assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities..."



edit., from http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662&page=1

[jberryhill]

6. Well, better luck next time

[GreenStormCloud]

7. Secret - my ass. That incident is well known.

The bomb had about seven safeties, maybe it was six or eight. They were designed to make sure that the bomb would not detonate unless it were actually dropped. Since it fell from a plane that broke up in the air, the safeties registed the bomb as falling through the air as if it were dropped and they closed. However, the arming switch in the plane had not been set to "arm" as they are never put in that position except in actual war, and then only on specific orders.

The article keep saying "low-voltage" switch as if that is something scarry. If the switch had been high-voltage they would then be trying to scare folks that a bomb had a high voltage switch in it.

After the incident the bombs were redesigned so that they would arm unless deliberately dropped.

They are trying to scare and alarm people over something that almost happened 52 years ago.

[sarge43]

11. Thank you, GSC

If a low level paper pushing zoomer like me heard about it, not exactly the world's best kept secret.

[postatomic]

14. I first heard of this in the early 70's

Kinda' shitty that a major news organization would bill this story as "secret". Guess it's a slow news day. Digging up old stories that only old hippies like me would remember.

Pot only effects my short term memory.

[obxhead]

18. I think I've even seen a docu-drama on History channel

Low tech, low voltage or even no voltage is the way to go with fail safes.

The first 2 rovers that hit Mars were built with 20 year old off the shelf parts, as far as the PC went anyway. Why? They had 20 years to work out the bugs. Not like they could fly out there and fix them.

Scary that the bombs were even being flown around? Sure. As far as fail safes go? This one worked as intended.

[AtheistCrusader]

21. Train as you fight.

Have to see if, for instance, the warheads cause electrical interference in the planes under normal flight conditions.

Risky but... makes sense in that context.

[bananas]

29. But what you "know" is wrong and directly contradicted by the just-released document.

You have a false sense of safety based on what you "know", because what you "know" is wrong.

The just-released document directly contradicts what you "know", and some of it is still censored:

<snip>

Not six. The bomb had four, one of which is not effective in the air.

<snip>

One "set off" by the fall. Two rendered ineffective by aircraft breakup.

That's right - ONE!

DELETED

Yeah. It would have been bad news - in spades.

<snip>

The Mk 39 Mod 2 bomb did not possess adequate safety for the airborne alert role in the B-52**. Alt 197 was performed on these bombs to provide additional safety, but it only interrupted (additionally) the lines between the bisch generator and the low voltage thermal battery. When the B-52 disintegrates in the air, it is likely to release the bombs in a near normal fashion***. The unalterable conclusion is that the only effective safing device during airborne alert was the ready-safe switch, be it the MC772 (Goldsboro) or the MC1288 (Alt 197).

If a short to an "arm" line occurred in a mid-air breakup, a postulate that seems credible, the Mk 39 Hod 2 bomb could have given a nuclear burst.

[hr]

*SC-DR-81-61, Analysis of the Safety Aspects of the Mk 39 Mod 2 Bombs Involved in B-52G Crash Near Greensboro (sic), North Carolina.

**The same conclusion should be drawn about present day SAC bombs, i.e. the B28FI, the B53, and the B41.

***This characteristic was graphically demonstrated at Palomares, as well.

[GreenStormCloud]

40. Considering that I was working from years old memory, I think I did pretty well. N/T

[davidpdx]

43. I actually know someone who would have been privy to the information about the safeties

and wish he was still alive today. It certainly would be interesting to ask him about the specifics and his personal thoughts. Unfortunately he passed away 3 1/2 years ago.

[indepat]

8. Almost a friendly fire on steroids incident?

[bluemarkers]

9. Ancient news here - Maybe the folks in England didn't know...?

Grew up in NC and grew up with the rumors. It was not a secret. There was even a terrorist scare back in 2001 or so that the bogey man would dig up the bomb and use material supposedly still in it.

too funny....

What scary is that the teabaggers are in the ncga!!! omg

[benh57]

27. Hell, it's on wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash

... with citations going back years.

[Octafish]

10. Funny what We the People don't know about when it comes to nuclear weapons.

Like the time CIA Director Allen Dulles and JCS Chairman Lyman Lemnitzer counseled President Kennedy to launch an all-out nuclear sneak attack on the USSR and China to rid the world of communism, once and for all.

Did the U.S. Military Plan a Nuclear First Strike for 1963?

Recently declassified information shows that the military presented President Kennedy with a plan for a surprise nuclear attack on the Soviet Union in the early 1960s.

James K. Galbraith and Heather A. Purcell
The American Prospect | September 21, 1994

During the early 1960s the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) introduced the world to the possibility of instant total war. Thirty years later, no nation has yet fired any nuclear missile at a real target. Orthodox history holds that a succession of defensive nuclear doctrines and strategies -- from "massive retaliation" to "mutual assured destruction" -- worked, almost seamlessly, to deter Soviet aggression against the United States and to prevent the use of nuclear weapons.

The possibility of U.S. aggression in nuclear conflict is seldom considered. And why should it be? Virtually nothing in the public record suggests that high U.S. authorities ever contemplated a first strike against the Soviet Union, except in response to a Soviet invasion of Western Europe, or that they doubted the deterrent power of Soviet nuclear forces. The main documented exception was the Air Force Chief of Staff in the early 1960s, Curtis LeMay, a seemingly idiosyncratic case.

But beginning in 1957 the U.S. military did prepare plans for a preemptive nuclear strike against the U.S.S.R., based on our growing lead in land-based missiles. And top military and intelligence leaders presented an assessment of those plans to President John F. Kennedy in July of 1961. At that time, some high Air Force and CIA leaders apparently believed that a window of outright ballistic missile superiority, perhaps sufficient for a successful first strike, would be open in late 1963.

The document reproduced opposite is published here for the first time. It describes a meeting of the National Security Council on July 20, 1961. At that meeting, the document shows, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the director of the CIA, and others presented plans for a surprise attack. They answered some questions from Kennedy about timing and effects, and promised further information. The meeting recessed under a presidential injunction of secrecy that has not been broken until now.

CONTINUED...

http://prospect.org/article/did-us-military-plan-nuclear-first-strike-1963

Never heard that on the tee vee. Here's the memo:

TOP SECRET EYES ONLY

Notes on National Security Council Meeting July 20, 1961

General Hickey, Chairman of the Net Evaluation Subcommittee, presented the annual report of his group. General Lemnitzer stated that the assumption of this year's study was a surprise attack in late 1963, preceded by a period of heightened tensions.

After the presentation by General Hickey and by the various members of the Subcommittee, the President asked if there had ever been made an assessment of damage results to the U.S.S.R which would be incurred by a preemptive attack. General Lemnitzer stated that such studies had been made and that he would bring them over and discuss them personally with the President. In recalling General Hickey's opening statement that these studies have been made since 1957, the President asked for an appraisal of the trend in the effectiveness of the attack. General Lemnitzer replied that he would also discuss this with the President.

Since the basic assumption of this year's presentation was an attack in late 1963, the President asked about probable effects in the winter of 1962. Mr. Dulles observed that the attack would be much less effective since there would be considerably fewer missiles involved. General Lemnitzer added a word of caution about accepting the precise findings of the Committee since these findings were based upon certain assumptions which themselves might not be valid.

The President posed the question as to the period of time necessary for citizens to remain in shelters following an attack. A member of the Subcommittee replied that no specific period of time could be cited due to the variables involved, but generally speaking, a period of two weeks should be expected.

The President directed that no member in attendance at the meeting disclose even the subject of the meeting.

SOURCE: http://www.maryferrell.org/wiki/index.php/Essay_-_Did_the_US_Military_Plan_a_Nuclear_First_Strike_for_1963

The memo was found in McNamara's papers. Like the accident over North Carolina, people knew something happened but didn't get the full picture.

[bananas]

30. Denial - it's not just a river in Egypt.

It runs through DU, too.

[whistler162]

12. And it was all Obama's fault.

[BootinUp]

19. + googol

[treestar]

35. thread win

he was born that year! It must have been part of the distraction to get that Kenyan smuggled in!

[freshwest]

44. Yup. Can't resist. Sorry if it's old to you. Not as old as recycled anxiety:

I'm ah tellin' ya, and we still have this TEOTWAWKI in my area of the country:



So skeered I won't be able to sleep...

[treestar]

47. Hilarious!

I hadn't seen that before. What a diabolical plan! We never saw it coming! Kenya is pretending to have troubles so we won't see them coming. Our new Kenyan overlords are so clever.

[ManiacJoe]

13. While adding more safeties is a good thing,

apparently in this case the four safeties got the job done.

[FailureToCommunicate]

15. If this sort of "revelation" bothers you...DO NOT see this film:

Scary, yes. Secret? not really.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

22. That was the first thing that came to mind. I belive they cover the NC story in thge docu? No?

[FailureToCommunicate]

34. Yes. That one and SO many other 'close calls'

[olddad56]

17. It is only a matter of time before we suffer some sort of nuke disaster.

[icarusxat]

20. Well known

and one of the reasons I chose to serve. I wanted to know, first hand, what our country was doing on our behalf. What I found out was not scary, or even treacherous. What I did learn, is that there are many different opinions regarding what it takes to keep us safe.

I sleep well at night. Mostly because I know that none of what we see is permanent. And, like Goethe said, "Alles vergängliche ist nur ein Gleichness."

[freshwest]

45. Music video for that quote, which is engraved on Max Weber's grave in Heidelberg:

Nine Inch Nails - Right Where It Belongs

See the animal in his cage that you built
Are you sure what side you're on?
Better not look him too closely in the eye
Are you sure what side of the glass you are on?
See the safety of the life you have built
Everything where it belongs
Feel the hollowness inside of your heart
And it's all
Right where it belongs

(Chorus)
What if everything around you
Isn't quite as it seems?
What if all the world you think you know
Is an elaborate dream?
And if you look at your reflection
Is it all you want it to be?
What if you could look right through the cracks?
Would you find yourself
Find yourself afraid to see?

What if all the world's inside of your head
Just creations of your own?
Your devils and your gods
All the living and the dead
And you're really all alone?
You can live in this illusion
You can choose to believe
You keep looking but you can't find the woods
While you're hiding in the trees

(Chorus)
What if everything around you
Isn't quite as it seems?
What if all the world you used to know
Is an elaborate dream?
And if you look at your reflection
Is it all you want it to be?
What if you could look right through the cracks
Would you find yourself
Find yourself afraid to see?

And so it goes.

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five

Thanks for sharing your perspective. Good to hear it.

[ThoughtCriminal]

23. Old story, but I worry about command and control for 3rd world nukes

Modern nuclear weapons have much better safeguards and permissive action links than were avalable in the 50's and 60's. But what about countries like Pakistan and North Korea? The danger of accident or mis-use may be substantially higher as more countries acquire nuclear arsenals. South Africa's small stockpile was apparently a particularly dangerous design.

[jmowreader]

24. I've been to Goldsboro

Dropping an atomic bomb on the town wouldn't hurt a thing.

[Kablooie]

25. Three fail safes failed but the fourth and last one worked, preventing the catastrophe.

See? Perfectly safe. Worked exactly as planned.
No explosion.
American ingenuity triumphs again!

[Peace Patriot]

26. Recommended: "JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters," by James Douglass.

nt

[ReRe]

28. Keystone Cops......

... with nukes.

[DeSwiss]

31. Not only is this NOT news......

...but this sort of thing happens so often, they have to categorize them by the decade:

1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s

- These ones are just from the military. And the ones that they're telling us about.....

[truedelphi]

32. Although I am always open to information, not sure I needed

To read your post and some of its links, or the OP, right before trying to go to sleep.

[DeSwiss]

38. Nightmares of potential nuclear oblivion.....

...can always be averted, as long as you have one of these to get under. As you can see no expense was spared to insure the safety of America's youth from nuclear radiation, back in the day. Ash, Beech or Oak, all three fine woods that they used back then, not like today's ''wood-fillers and fume-producing plastics.'' All under-girded and supported by strong American-made steel that was second to none! (And which now barely makes the list of the top 5)



- It was about this time when I was in third-grade and they told us to get under our desks for the atomic bomb drill, that I began to suspect we were being lied to......

[Kelvin Mace]

37. And notice the number of incidents has fallen

To almost nothing in recent times. A far less cynical person than I would claim the safety practices have improved.

I, however, believe they have just gotten better at covering up the accidents.

[GreenStormCloud]

41. Or fewer nukes. Lots of our nukes have been dismantled. N/T

[dipsydoodle]

33. May not necessarily be new news but the question remains

had it detonated would the US have put their hands up to an own goal or blamed outside forces.

[Kelvin Mace]

36. I was born about two weeks after that incident

At Camp Lejuene, close enough to Goldsboro that my mother would probably died in the explosion. Sooner or later our luck is going to run out playing with these toys and millions will die.

Yes, millions as i have no doubt we will blame someone else rather than admit our own folly. Besides, why waste a perfectly good opportunity to destroy Iran or North Korea for a crime they didn't commit. It worked with Iraq.

[CRH]

39. That would have been three days after, ...

the inauguration of Kennedy. Certainly would have change history if his first days in office were from a fallout bunker.

[bobGandolf]

42. Why put down those who think it's a new revelation?

Old, new, one instance, many instances......what the hell is the difference. The results will be the same eventually.....a nuclear disaster that should never happen.
Sometimes competitive intelligence can be blinding.

[GreenStormCloud]

46. Not puting the OPer down, but am putting down the media.

It is the media's job to know that old news is old news.

[bobGandolf]

48. Okay, misunderstood n/t