Soviets Built a Doomsday Machine; It's Still Alive

An anonymous reader points out a story in Wired introducing us to the Doomsday Machine built by the Soviet Union in the 1980s — and that remains active to this day. It was called "Perimeter." The article explains why the device was built, and why the Soviets considered it to be something that kept the peace, even though they never told the US about it. "[Reagan's] strategy worked. Moscow soon believed the new US leadership really was ready to fight a nuclear war. But the Soviets also became convinced that the US was now willing to start a nuclear war. ... A few months later, Reagan... announced that the US was going to develop a shield of lasers and nuclear weapons in space to defend against Soviet warheads. ... To Moscow it was the Death Star — and it confirmed that the US was planning an attack. ... By guaranteeing that Moscow could hit back, Perimeter was actually designed to keep an overeager Soviet military or civilian leader from launching prematurely during a crisis. The point, [an informant] says, was 'to cool down all these hotheads and extremists. No matter what was going to happen, there still would be revenge. Those who attack us will be punished.'"

A more likely possibility

[elrous0]

Its construction might have had less to do with Reagan and more to do with the fact that a single moment of restraint [wired.com] two years earlier had stopped a nuclear war. This is exactly the sort of almost-disastrous incident that this system was designed to address.

Re:Creepy thought...

[Monkeedude1212]

That IS a Creepy thought. Unless Doomsday can detect location of Origin, and decide accordingly. I bet Washington's Co-ordinates are hardcoded though.

Re:Didn't they watch Dr. Strangelove?

[Trepidity]

As the article explains, the purpose was to keep Soviet generals from being less hot-headed, by assuring them there was retaliatory capability. It wasn't to deter the US, so no need to tell the US.

Re:Didn't they watch Dr. Strangelove?

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

What's the point of building a Doomsday machine if you don't tell everyone about it?

That point is well covered in the article:

By guaranteeing that Moscow could hit back, Perimeter was actually designed to keep an overeager Soviet military or civilian leader from launching prematurely during a crisis. The point, Zheleznyakov says, was "to cool down all these hotheads and extremists. No matter what was going to happen, there still would be revenge. Those who attack us will be punished."

The machine was designed as a deterrent to soviet military commanders, not to deter the US.

Re:A more likely possibility

[MyLongNickName]

Or you could read the article and find out that Perimeter had to be turned on by a human in the first place, and there are several ways that it could be turned off even if Perimeter determines that it should launch.

Re:Dr Strangelove?

[socrplayr813]

From what I've read, the system wasn't designed as a deterrent to a nuclear war, but rather as a deterrent to an overreaction by the Soviets in the event of an incident with the US. Essentially, it was to keep the Soviets from starting a nuclear war based on bad information or an overreaction such an incident. By ensuring they can strike back after a successful first strike by the US, they allow themselves time to consider the ramifications of their actions and allow cooler heads to make a decision that could lead to the end of the world.

I really hope the system wasn't completely automated in case of some kind of malfunction, but I applaud their foresight. If they anticipated the potential problem of a hot-headed overreaction on their side and put measures in place to help keep that in check, bravo.

Re:Creepy thought...

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

Some anti-Yankees (North Korea) could detonate a warhead to set off Perimeter, and wipe us off the map. Maximum return on investment.

It doesn't work that way. High command has to enable it because they saw what they think was a launch from us. Then the detonation would have to sever all communication between command and the bunker. Then, an officer in the bunker would have to look at the seismograph and radiation data and misinterpret it to think there had been a major attack that wiped out all the people in charge and in turn order a launch.

Re:Dr Strangelove?

[MozeeToby]

I really hope the system wasn't completely automated in case of some kind of malfunction...

There was a man in the loop, but it was whoever happened to be present at the Perimeter facilities at the time. Ideally, it would be someone from high command sent there because the crisis was recognized before hand; but it's possible that it would be just some random soldier sitting in the hot seat.

Even still, the system is only activated for a limited amount of time by high command, only when they suspected an impending attack.

Perimeter Is Not A Doomsday Machine

[careysub]

If one reads the article one soon discovers that it is misrepresenting itself. The Perimeter system is not an automatic response system - it transfers launch authority to an actual authorized person in a secure location who makes the launch decision. In no way is this an automatic "Doomsday Machine".

Is this a shocking revelation? Well, the U.S. has its own "pre-positioned national command authority" who does exactly the same thing! See Bruce Blair's book The Logic of Accidental Nuclear War.

Re:Didn't you RTFA?

[multisync]

Here's a more relevant quote from TFA:

By guaranteeing that Moscow could hit back, Perimeter was actually designed to keep an overeager Soviet military or civilian leader from launching prematurely during a crisis. The point, Zheleznyakov says, was "to cool down all these hotheads and extremists. No matter what was going to happen, there still would be revenge. Those who attack us will be punished."

So it sounds like the purpose of the devices was more to deter a Soviet first strike, rather than a US first strike.

If Soviet radar picked up an ominous but ambiguous signal, the leaders could turn on Perimeter and wait. If it turned out to be geese, they could relax and Perimeter would stand down. Confirming actual detonations on Soviet soil is far easier than confirming distant launches. "That is why we have the system," Yarynich says. "To avoid a tragic mistake. "

Re:Doomsday Machine

[gnick]

...If you count in USA, EU, Russia and China thats pretty much 70% of the world. Now just create the same for Africa and we're close to 90%...

Sorry to nit-pick, but you may be neglecting a couple of very populous nuclear powers. I'm thinking of a fairly large mostly-Hindu nation [wikipedia.org] that neighbors a "recently" formed largely Muslim nation [wikipedia.org] that together house well over a billion people?

Re:Didn't they watch Dr. Strangelove?

[ssintercept]

President Merkin Muffley: But this is absolute madness, Ambassador! Why should you *build* such a thing?
Ambassador de Sadesky: There were those of us who fought against it, but in the end we could not keep up with the expense involved in the arms race, the space race, and the peace race. At the same time our people grumbled for more nylons and washing machines. Our doomsday scheme cost us just a small fraction of what we had been spending on defense in a single year. The deciding factor was when we learned that your country was working along similar lines, and we were afraid of a doomsday gap.
President Merkin Muffley: This is preposterous. I've never approved of anything like that.
Ambassador de Sadesky: Our source was the New York Times.

Re:Doomsday Machine

[shutdown -p now]

Enabled by military

The subtlety here is that it is not supposed to be enabled just before the strike. Rather, it is enabled when relations become tense, and possibility of nuclear strike by another side rises.

Forgot history?

[xzvf]

Before nuclear weapons the world fought numerous low level conflicts between spurts of global war. Now prior to the 19th century global war was difficult because people didn't go long distances, so lets start with the Napoleonic Wars. After they concluded in 1815 we had a number of small conflicts. Indian Wars in the US, Zulu and Boer wars, US Civil War, Franco-Prussian war, Italian Revolution, numerous conflicts in India, Crimirian War, Boxer rebellion, Russo-Japanese war, Spanish American War, US vs Mexico (Poncho Villa ), etc.... Then the Great War (WWI), after that we stopped fighting to get ready for WWII, whoops, no we didn't. Spanish Revolution, Japanese in China, Japanese border issues with the Russians, US all over South and Central America, Italians in Ethiopia, Europeans in Russia (their were West European and US troops all over Russia in the early 20's, Russo-Finish war. Now between the Napoleonic Wars and WWI, peace was maintained by overwhelming British Sea Power which kept any of those conflicts from going global. Between WWI and WWII the political will wasn't there to fight for a generation. After WWII if major conflict was avoided by nuclear weapons, which is likely, then good, but don't think that fighting limited wars started in 1945.

Same thing happened the other way, too.

[Ungrounded Lightning]

Its construction might have had less to do with Reagan and more to do with the fact that a single moment of restraint [by a soviet officer who got a bogus five-missile launch detection from a satellite during a crisis] two years earlier had stopped a nuclear war.

Same thing happened the other way, too.

The DEW line was turned on to operational status a few days before the announced date - in case the Soviets decided to stage a strike just before it was turned on. A few hours after that it began reporting waves of missile launches. (But it didn't predict the targets they would hit.) The general in charge decided that this might be bogus and held off pending reports of actual hits.

Turns out he was dead right. The big radars had seen the Moon rising - and misinterpreted the strong, long-delayed, echo as a bunch of echoes from later pulses (and thus a bunch of closer targets). And since the moon wasn't about to crash into the Earth the computers couldn't figure out where this cloud of phantom missiles were going to touch down.

The problem was fixed and the DEW Line went into service.

I you WTFM

[Sycraft-fu]

You'd discover that this is a very famous line from it:

Dr. Strangelove: Of course, the whole point of a Doomsday Machine is lost, if you *keep* it a *secret*! Why didn't you tell the world, EH?
Ambassador de Sadesky: It was to be announced at the Party Congress on Monday. As you know, the Premier loves surprises.

The whole movie is about the Soviets and a secret Doomsday device. The GP was quoting it because ti is both amusing and relevant.

Re:Doomsday Machine

[The Moof]

The article states that if all 4 "large scale nuclear blast" conditions are met, it calls the government first. After the government doesn't respond after an undisclosed amount of time, it just activates the "End the World" button instead of requiring keys and passcodes. So the final button still has to be pushed by whoever is manning the switch.

Re:Dr Strangelove?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you haven't seen Dr Strangelove, then your training is dreadfully incomplete. One of the best movies ever made and IMO the highlight of both Sellers's and Kubrick's careers.

First, settle down - It was a joke. Second, tell your boss you're leaving early because you're on your way to rent a movie. Third, watch Dr. Strangelove. Twice.

Not A Doomsday Machine

[Geoffrey.landis]

It's a good article, but it's not a doomsday machine in the Kahn ("Dr. Strangelove") sense, a machine that destroys the world automatically in case of a nuclear attack. What it is is an system that allows retaliation after a nuclear first strike even if the high command is dead.

So the whole "Doomsday Machine" thing was an automated system based on ground sensors to launch the missiles in case US attacks.

No.

If you actually read the article, it's a system that, in the event that it's turned on (and it's normally off) and senses a nuclear strike on Soviet territory, and the lines to Soviet command go dead, automatically gives launch authority of the Russian retaliation force to the humans that are lower down on the chain of command.

It's not "Wargames." It still requires humans to command a nuclear attack.

Re:Doomsday Machine

[nametaken]

No.

"Perimeter ensures the ability to strike back, but it's no hair-trigger device. It was designed to lie semi-dormant until switched on by a high official in a crisis. Then it would begin monitoring a network of seismic, radiation, and air pressure sensors for signs of nuclear explosions. Before launching any retaliatory strike, the system had to check off four if/then propositions: If it was turned on, then it would try to determine that a nuclear weapon had hit Soviet soil. If it seemed that one had, the system would check to see if any communication links to the war room of the Soviet General Staff remained. If they did, and if some amount of timeâ"likely ranging from 15 minutes to an hourâ"passed without further indications of attack, the machine would assume officials were still living who could order the counterattack and shut down. But if the line to the General Staff went dead, then Perimeter would infer that apocalypse had arrived. It would immediately transfer launch authority to whoever was manning the system at that moment deep inside a protected bunkerâ"bypassing layers and layers of normal command authority. At that point, the ability to destroy the world would fall to whoever was on duty: maybe a high minister sent in during the crisis, maybe a 25-year-old junior officer fresh out of military academy. And if that person decided to press the button ... If/then. If/then. If/then. If/then.
Once initiated, the counterattack would be controlled by so-called command missiles. Hidden in hardened silos designed to withstand the massive blast and electromagnetic pulses of a nuclear explosion, these missiles would launch first and then radio down coded orders to whatever Soviet weapons had survived the first strike. At that point, the machines will have taken over the war. Soaring over the smoldering, radioactive ruins of the motherland, and with all ground communications destroyed, the command missiles would lead the destruction of the US.
The US did build versions of these technologies, deploying command missiles in what was called the Emergency Rocket Communications System. It also developed seismic and radiation sensors to monitor for nuclear tests or explosions the world over. But the US never combined it all into a system of zombie retaliation. It feared accidents and the one mistake that could end it all.
Instead, airborne American crews with the capacity and authority to launch retaliatory strikes were kept aloft throughout the Cold War. Their mission was similar to Perimeter's, but the system relied more on people and less on machines.
And in keeping with the principles of Cold War game theory, the US told the Soviets all about it."

Re:Dr Strangelove?

[Phat_Tony]

For reference:

DeSadeski: The fools... the mad fools.
Muffley: What's happened?
DeSadeski: The doomsday machine.
Muffley: The doomsday machine? What is that?
DeSadeski: A device which will destroy all human and animal life on earth.
Muffley: All human and animal life? ... I'm afraid I don't understand something, Alexiy. Is the Premier threatening to explode this if our planes carry out their attack?
DeSadeski: No sir. It is not a thing a sane man would do. The doomsday machine is designed to trigger itself automatically.
Muffley: But surely you can disarm it somehow.
DeSadeski: No. It is designed to explode if any attempt is ever made to untrigger it.
Muffley: Automatically? ... But, how is it possible for this thing to be triggered automatically, and at the same time impossible to untrigger?
Strangelove: Mr. President, it is not only possible, it is essential. That is the whole idea of this machine, you know. Deterrence is the art of producing in the mind of the enemy... the fear to attack. And so, because of the automated and irrevocable decision making process which rules out human meddling, the doomsday machine is terrifying. It's simple to understand. And completely credible, and convincing.
Turgidson: Gee, I wish we had one of them doomsday machines, Stainsy.
Muffley: But this is fantastic, Strangelove. How can it be triggered automatically?
Strangelove: Well, it's remarkably simple to do that. When you merely wish to bury bombs, there is no limit to the size. After that they are connected to a gigantic complex of computers. Now then, a specific and clearly defined set of circumstances, under which the bombs are to be exploded, is programmed into a tape memory bank. ... Yes, but the... whole point of the doomsday machine... is lost... if you keep it a secret! Why didn't you tell the world, eh?

Re:Credit where credit may be due

[Anonymous Coward]

Not yet. In fact, the style of warfare they have engaged the US in has brought about sweeping changes in the Pentagon. Secretary of Defense Gates has initiated a titanic shift in Pentagon policy and thinking away from pie-in-the-sky super weapons, e.g. F-22 Raptor, built for future wars against super power foes. Instead, planning has been focused onto the war at hand and technologies that solve current problems, e.g. MRAP anit-IED troop carrier. The current economic crisis, a result of avarice and gluttony, would have occurred all on its own.

Re:Doomsday Machine

[Obfuscant]

I suspect GP is objecting to the destruction of the 500 feet of earth that would be necessary to destroy the people underneath it.

I suspect GP failed to read the thread, which started with "If the US detonated some new bomb that removed all human life within Russian borders, down to 500 miles underground,...". Nothing was said about destroying 500 feet of earth.

Key phrases: "some new bomb" means "not the same old bombs", and "removed all human life" doesn't mean "vaporized everything." Is there a wiki entry for "neutron bomb" that I need to refer to? I.e., it isn't necessary to vaporize earth to kill humans.

Re:Doomsday Machine

[agnosticnixie]

1 - No, less than 60 years

2 - No, Protestantism is only 500 years old

Re:Doomsday Machine

[CodeBuster]

according to TFA it most certainly DID require multiple staggered detections combined with simultaneous loss of connection to multiple communications facilities (all of the actually) and even then a human in the launch bunker was still required to manually "push the button". If any of these "steps" failed to trigger the next within set timeframes then the system would automatically shut itself down.

Re:Excuse me,

[Martin Blank]

Only those approved by the Iranian government as sufficiently Islamic can run for any office. Media outlets deemed too liberal are routinely shut down in the lead-up to the elections.

The president of Iran answers to the Supreme Leader of Iran, currently Ayatollah Khamenei. The Supreme Leader's word is final in almost all matters, though he technically is subject to the approval of the Assembly of Experts. But since the Assembly of Experts is elected from candidates approved by the government -- and the Supreme Leader -- the position is incredibly safe. Even in the recent tumult, with Assembly leader Hashemi Rafsanjani criticizing the election and following activities, Khamenei has never been in any real danger of losing his position.

"Star Wars", Ronald Reagan, and the USSR

[Anonymous Coward]

Tablizer wrote: " It's hard to say what factors weigh in leaders' heads. We cannot rip out their neurons and study them in a lab[1], so we must use available clues to guess"

The Public Broadcasting System show "The American Experience" has a documentary about Ronald Reagan, entitled "Reagan" [pbs.org] (released in 1998) that demonstrates the factors that weighed in the leader's heads to end the Cold War.

Tablizer wrote: "We should thank our lucky stars (or the Anthropic Principle) that we are still here......so far. The Cold War played with fire many times."

Actually, we should thank our lucky Star Wars.

The Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, better known as "Star Wars") [wikipedia.org] was a proposed missile defense shield that was championed by Reagan, and according to the documentary I mentioned above, it had a profound effect on the outcome of the Cold War, particularly because it was such a powerful negotiating point in 1986 at a summit meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, between President Reagan and Gorbachev. In the transcript excerpt from the "Reagan" documentary below, Gorbachev says that the reason the Cold War ended was due to that meeting (I've highlighted the quotes in bold for easier locating). I've included a long excerpt to show how important a role SDI played.

Narr: Reagan presented SDI as a benign shield. The soothing rhetoric may have disguised another motive.

James Baker III, Chief of Staff : I think President Reagan saw SDI as being yet another pressure on the Soviets, as something that they could not withstand and I think he was right. Whether it would work or not, it was a heck of a challenge to the Soviet ah empire, which was having a very difficult time competing ah economically and ah otherwise.

Alexander Bessmertnykh, Foreign Ministry, USSR: The first reaction was really frightening. I mean people were just enormously frightened by that, by that program.

Pavel Palazchenko, Foreign Ministry, USSR: In part, I think, because it probably revealed in their minds the impossibility for the Soviet Union to really compete in that area because of our, uh, technological inferiority at that time.
[...]
Narr: As they walked back to rejoin their delegations, Reagan invited Gorbachev to Washington. Gorbachev reciprocated with an invitation to Moscow. On the second day Reagan found Gorbachev ready to talk about "building down" their arsenals. But determined to kill SDI. Reagan resisted.

Tarasenko: Gorbachev was visibly irritated. He said, why you are repeating the same and the same thing to me. I've heard that many times. Stop this rubbish. Tell me something more. It was literally so, it was a harsh discussion.

Narr: But at the end, the mood was warm. Reagan left Geneva with SDI intact. And an agreement: a "nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought."

[....]

Narr: In October 1986 Reagan met Gorbachev for the second time in a hastily called summit at Reykjavik, Iceland. Once again, his conservative backers, now largely out of government, were worried he would seek an arms agreement just for the sake of an agreement.

Nofziger: I said, well Mr. President, I'm here because there's a lot of people worried that you're going to go to Reykjavik and give away the store, and he said Lin, he said Linwood cause he always called me Linwood which is not my name. He said Linwood, I don't want you ever to worry about that. He said I still have the scars on my back from when I fought the communists in Hollywood. He said don't ever worry about it.

Narr: Gorbachev had his own problems. He needed an arms agreement. He could not manage both economic reform and the arms race, especially SDI. He would try his best to make Reagan give away the store.

Re:Doomsday Machine

[hodet]

He said miles, not feet.

Numerical Codes

[dgnicholson]

I find this litte nugget of information more bizarre than the Perimeter system...
"Midway through the Cold War, American leaders began to worry that a rogue US officer might launch a small, unauthorized strike, prompting massive retaliation. So in 1962, Robert McNamara ordered every nuclear weapon locked with numerical codes. Irritated by the restriction, Strategic Air Command set all the codes to strings of zeros. The Defense Department didn't learn of the subterfuge until 1977."

Re:Doomsday Machine

[Anonymous Coward]

I suspect its from Fagalon Fagve, when the Fagbari were fagging it up for the final fagvasion of Earth. Spoiler: Their fag-souls were leaking into humanity, causing fags, and the Fagbari can't bear to hurt other fags, so they issued a faggy surrender and minced away.

Now why can't I disable my +1 anonymous bonus for this!? :-)

Re:Doomsday Machine

[khallow]

because how right or wrong something is depends on the numbers. fucking idiot.

Yes. Welcome to right and wrong in the real world.

Re:Dr Strangelove?

[Rob the Bold]

I kinda feel bad that you got a Troll mod (when a mere "Whoosh" would have done) just for ignorance of one of the greatest movies about nuclear annihilation. Take your inner feminist (and the rest of you) to see Dr. Strangelove ASAP.

In the meantime, take a look at this youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iesXUFOlWC0 [youtube.com]