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FOIA'd Documents Give Tour of Minuteman Missile National Historic Site (muckrock.com)

Posted by samzenpus on from the look-around dept.

v3rgEz writes: In the 1990s, during our nuclear disarmament initiative, the Congress preserved two intercontinental ballistic missile silos as historic sites. The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is one of them, and MuckRock used FOIA to take a tour of what's publicly on display, including a Domino's Themed Blast Door and probing questions guides are told to ask visitors, including, 'Could you turn they key?'

14 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. Queue debate/trolling by saboosh · · Score: 2

    Hang on, before you start the 10% debating and and 90% trolling about whether you would kill millions to save hundreds of millions let me get my popcorn first

    1. Re:Queue debate/trolling by Noah+Haders · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Hang on, before you start the 10% debating and and 90% trolling about whether you would kill millions to save hundreds of millions let me get my popcorn first

      how could you save hundreds of millions? any nuclear salvo would be met by a return salvo. you could kill hundreds of millions and have your hundreds of millions die anyway. winning?

    2. Re:Queue debate/trolling by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 2

      The argument that was made was that you "save" people by threatening to turn the key, not by actually turning it.

      If the order ever came down to actually launch the missiles, it would be too late to save anyone. You'd simply be killing millions of people. You'd be joining the ranks of the worst despots in human history, except that you would be killing them directly without the complicity of middlemen.

      And no, I would never sign up for that job. That's because no matter how much you argue that MAD ought to prevent a nuclear war, sometimes shit happens.

    3. Re:Queue debate/trolling by SuricouRaven · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And zero wars between countries that have nuclear weapons. No-one dares risk escalation. The Cold War is called such precisely because there was no actual direct fighting involved - just lots of being prepared to fight, and a few proxy wars.

    4. Re:Queue debate/trolling by SuricouRaven · · Score: 2

      I would imagine that the higher-ups take the possibility into account, and run extensive screening to make sure any operators are well-trained enough to turn the key. They may even be able to run drill tests where the operators are not aware if the missiles are actually armed or not. Operators might be asked to fire on a regular basis, never knowing if the launch code they were given is genuine, or just some random numbers that the computer will reject.

    5. Re:Queue debate/trolling by KGIII · · Score: 2

      I'd turn the key if I took the job and an order came down to do so. I don't take jobs that I am unwilling to carry out. I did serve in the military but I'd absolutely not have taken that job (they don't let Marines play with that sort of stuff, as a general rule and for good reason). However, if I took the job then I'd do my duty which was to follow that order. I said I'd follow that order, I'll follow that order - assuming it's lawful. I could not turn that key, I would not take that job.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    6. Re:Queue debate/trolling by KGIII · · Score: 2

      Funny you say that. I just stopped in at an old haunt and now the missus is driving us as we're out of DC traffic and back on 95 and headed due south for the duration. I check Maine's weather (I've been gone since September) and I'm quite pleased. My dog will be flying down tomorrow.

      That said, I stopped in at Quantico and visited a few old friends who are still, for some reason, slugging it out though they could have retired already.

      Now, you raise an interesting thought and not one I've not had before. I'd say it's partially due to self-selection, training, and peer-pressure. We're, generally, the most generous, friendly, and intelligent people on the planet (I might be biased) but we do have our moments. Have you ever, perchance, had the opportunity to drink with Marines - say, right after boot and in a group of them? We're still nice - we're just rowdy.

      At any rate, we'd have touched off a nuke just to see what happened. There's no doubt about it. It probably wouldn't take very long before one of us figured out how to detonate it. We are, after all, intelligent people. The funny part is people believe I'm a mathematician (I am even a Ph.D holding mathematician) yet have difficulty understanding that I paid for some of it with the GI Bill by serving in the Marines.

      So, I punch them in the throat and stomp on their sternum... (No, not really. I'm rather harmless. I'm quite the doddering old man these days though I did finally shave off my long hair - easier to care for on my journey.)

      Ah, tech is grand. I'm hurtling down the highway at ungodly speeds (she's a horrible driver) and am using my phone as a wireless router and don't seem to have any issues. We, Marines, are generally well received no matter where we go. When we stomp onto foreign shores, our brass is bright, our boots polished, and our manners are impeccable. We do what we came to do and ask for nothing but a small plot of land with which to bury our dead. We will move a mountain with nothing but the spoon from our mess kit should we be so ordered. Or, if no one's looking, we'll steal the equipment from the squids and use that to move the mountain.

      We have a proud tradition, a heritage, and a code of honor that we enforce among ourselves. I generally dislike the idea that "once a Marine, always a Marine" and "there's no such thing as a former Marine." But they're both true. You are torn down, brainwashed, and built into a Marine - each a rifleman, from cook to accountant, and each having earned the right to the name.

      I don't really have a complete answer and I've given it much thought. Make of it what you will. I guess, there have been times and places where I've been told that I'm cocky and I never really understood that view. I am not cocky, I am certain. That's what makes me a Marine. (I just had some of this conversation with the missus as we were going to and leaving base.)

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  2. No they did not use the FOIA to take a tour by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Informative

    The summary is really poor, ANYONE can go on the tour without invoking the FOIA - I did so a few years ago, and saw all the same things.

    If you read the article, it's just about how they used the FOIA to get the script for the tour, which while interesting is not exactly a Snowden level revelation.

    By the way, for whoever wrote the original article do you really not know why they would worry about oil from hands? Over time touches can easily corrode metal and paint, and at this point there is very little budget to keep up repairs to the site so they want to minimize how much they have to do touchups. Yes the facility is designed to withstand a nuclear blast, but the grand canyon was full of many hard rocks before thousands of years of slow erosion created a mighty chasm...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  3. Editors... by Alwin+Henseler · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Try pushing they key, samzenpus. The "Backspace" key, that is ("Del" may also work).

    Okay, I know Slashdot editing isn't known for its quality work. But come on... not even 70 words, a one-minute reading out loud of the summary makes a spelling error like that stand out like a sore thumb. Exactly what job does /. pay their editors for, again?

  4. Here's a historical (unknown) point-of-interest by rickyslashdot · · Score: 4, Interesting

    ONE MAN COULD turn both keys in the activation sequence - which was NOT supposed to be do-able. During periodic testing of the control room -to- silo control links, a single man was left to activate the keys to test the wiring systems. The 2 consoles were 8 - 10 (or so) feet apart, and designed to REQUIRE 2 men to activate the firing sequence at the same time. Using 2 nails and a length of sting, the ingenious control house tech put one nail above the second key control, the second nail through the head of the key, tied the string to the second nail (key-head nail) and ran the string across the top nail and over to the second key station. BINGO! He could turn BOTH keys simultaneously - one by hand, the other by pulling on the string. When observed (caught) doing this testing, he was told to never discuss it, and the repercussions went like a silent tidal wave all the way to the top. I still don't know how this was resolved - but I imagine the key consoles were outfitted with additional locks that required pushing an actuator button or something, requiring 2 hands to activate.

    --
    redneck geek
  5. That should read "Turn thy key" by DrXym · · Score: 2

    Glory be to the Bomb and the Holy fallout. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.

  6. The sword of Damocles by swb · · Score: 2

    The sword of Damocles works because it hangs, not because it falls.

  7. Titan Missile Museum by blahblahblah105 · · Score: 2

    For a better tour, I recommend the Top-To-Bottom tour at the Titan Missile Museum near Tucson, AZ. 5 hours long and it takes you from launch control through all 8 levels of the silo itself. Nothing like standing at the bottom of the launch duct looking up at the missile.

  8. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 2

    Comment removed based on user account deletion