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KGB Software Almost Triggered War In 1983 (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Who here remembers WarGames? As it turns out, the film was a lot closer to reality than we knew. Newly-released documents show that the Soviet Union's KGB developed software to predict sneak attacks from the U.S. and other nations in the early 1980s. During a NATO wargame in November, 1983, that software met all conditions necessary to forecast the beginning of a nuclear war. "Many of these procedures and tactics were things the Soviets had never seen, and the whole exercise came after a series of feints by U.S. and NATO forces to size up Soviet defenses and the downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 on September 1, 1983. So as Soviet leaders monitored the exercise and considered the current climate, they put one and one together. Able Archer, according to Soviet leadership at least, must have been a cover for a genuine surprise attack planned by the U.S., then led by a president possibly insane enough to do it." Fortunately, when the military exercise ended, so did Soviet fears that an attack was imminent.

8 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. There were TV documentories on this by jfdavis668 · · Score: 4, Informative

    How is this suddenly news? I have watch TV documentaries years ago about this event.

    1. Re:There were TV documentories on this by Crowd+Computing · · Score: 5, Informative
      The news is about the downloadable partly declassified document that pertains to the event. So the difference is like watching a CNN news report about a government scandal and then reading for yourself the Wikileaks source. Of course in this case it's not a leak but an official release:

      National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 533
      Edited by Nate Jones, Tom Blanton, and Lauren Harper
      Posted - October 24, 2015

  2. Obligatory shoutout to Stanislav Petrov by NotDrWho · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The man who saved the world in 1983.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
  3. Re:Reagan's mic test by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And a few years later, Lt. Col. Oliver North would propose how the president could declare martial law in the U.S. if THE PEOPLE opposed the administration's policies. For a news junkie, it was fun era to live in.

  4. Re:So it was the US that triggered it by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They must think that the risk is worth it to check NK defences, but it doesn't help diplomatic efforts.

    Honestly, sometimes I think it's fairly common that countries periodically have to do things which say "we know you're there, we're not afraid of you, and we can fuck you up".

    So, think of China building artificial islands in the South China Sea and then claiming that is territorial waters. Sailing past and waving the flag is part and parcel of reminding them that, no, this is international waters and has been for some time. Would you have them cede the waters to China and just let them annex it?

    Sometimes, you need to remind the other guy that you're still there, and reality isn't defined in terms of what they claim. And you usually do that by telling me "oh, by the way, we'll be doing this right here for the next little while".

    For some countries, diplomacy requires a little show of force to demonstrate you're not as intimidated as they think you should be of their supreme leader's tiny penis and huge ego.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  5. Gorbachev's off the cuff comment I heard live by raymorris · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was at an event where someone asked Gorbachev about the major economic changes in the early 1990s as the Soviet states re-organized into various coalitions after the USSR dissolved. In his reply, Gorbachev's main point was that it took longer for private industry to ramp up than had been hoped. I don't remember the exact words from the meat of his response; it was an "unimportant" preface clause that caught my attention. He replied:

    "After Reagan defeated us Perestroika wasn't moving as quickly as we had anticipated and ..."

    "After Reagan defeated us", that's how Gorbachev thinks of the fall of the Soviet Union. I'm no expert on US-Soviet relations in the 1980s, but Gorbachev certainly is. He knows the private discussions of the Politburo that historians can only guess about. And his four-word summary of the Soviet Union's fall is "after Reagan defeated us". Very interesting, I thought.

  6. Don't blame the software... by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...Blame the model.

    I read this article, the model was flawed, based on a "we'll attack when we pass some threshhold". Everything else was just to feed the model. They added a lot of things, so the model could only be calculated on a computer. But its a modeling error, the tool was a computer.

  7. Re:Coren22's "APKolypse" by Harlequin80 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What the fuck is wrong with you? Have you considered seeking professional help? Just so you know your attacks on Coren now mean I hold him in much higher regard.