WEBVTT - 4. Dancing on a Razor’s Edge 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:04.640 Ah. 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:08.879 The summer of eighty three, across America, teenagers crammed into 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.560 theaters to see a new heart throb named Tom Cruise 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:15.600 make some larger than life bad decisions in risky business. 0:00:15.520 --> 0:00:20.040 Sometimes you gotta say, what the fuck make you move? 0:00:22.600 --> 0:00:24.360 It was such a smash hit, in fact, that all 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.000 over the country, and I'm speaking from personal experience here, 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:30.960 emergency rooms were flooded with teenagers with broken bones from 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:34.000 trying to replicate the infamous hardwood floor sock slide. 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:36.800 Fuck. 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:42.000 It was a simpler time, wasn't it. It was the 0:00:42.000 --> 0:00:47.640 summer that gave us flashdance, those tasty mouth incinerating hot pockets, 0:00:49.640 --> 0:00:53.360 and somewhere down under, a baby Chris Hemsworth entered the world. 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:58.280 But you know what they say, good things never last. 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:02.160 Soon a humid house in summer would turn to fall 0:01:02.600 --> 0:01:04.760 and things would get a little bit colder. 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:09.640 I'd heard that of a seven forty seven missing, and 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:11.760 seven forty sevens just aren't missing. 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.440 One story dominates the free world news media tonights, the 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:18.319 killing of two hundred and sixty nine innocent people. I 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:22.280 bought a Korean jumbo jip that drifted into Soviet territory. 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:27.240 The United States reacts with revulsion to this attack. Loss 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:31.000 of life appears to be heavy. We can see no 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:34.760 excuse whatsoever for this appalling act. 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:38.200 The United States is demanding that the Soviet Union explained 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:40.880 why it's shot down a Korean airline's plane that had 0:01:40.880 --> 0:01:42.399 strayed into Soviet airspace. 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:50.160 I met Helms and This is Snafu, a podcast about 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:53.760 history's greatest screw ups. On season one, we're telling you 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:59.960 the story of a snaffoo that is gigantic, terrifying, and observed. 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:04.040 It's called Able Archer eighty three, the nineteen eighty three 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:09.440 NATO military exercise that may have almost triggered a real 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:32.680 nuclear war. By this point in the season, we've learned 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:35.840 that the Spring of nineteen eighty three firmly ended anything 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:39.240 resembling a good relationship between the United States and the 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:43.480 Soviet Union. In geopolitical technical terms, we'd been downgraded from 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:49.000 frenemies to enemies. Ronald Reagan was casually slinging around evil 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:52.639 Empire insults. NATO announced that it would be deploying medium 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:55.680 range Persion two missiles in Europe, and Reagan got his 0:02:55.760 --> 0:03:01.280 pet project going SDI aka star Wars. The Soviet Union 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:04.720 whipped themselves into a nuclear frenzy, sending their spies all 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:07.560 around town to confirm what they already believed to be true, 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:12.000 that America was preparing a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:16.680 But somehow things were about to get even harrier in 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:19.680 this episode, nineteen eighty three spirals out of control. In 0:03:19.720 --> 0:03:22.760 the months leading up to Able Archer, the Soviets and 0:03:22.800 --> 0:03:26.079 Americans weren't joyfully sliding around in socks so much as 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:30.040 they were dancing on a razor's edge. Now that's what 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:40.640 I call some real risky business. It's June third, nineteen 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:42.480 eighty three. The front page of the New York Times 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:45.920 reads and drop Off meets with Harriman, asks for better ties. 0:03:46.680 --> 0:03:50.320 The Harriman referenced here is Avril Harriman, a ninety one 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:52.800 year old who used to be the US ambassador to 0:03:52.800 --> 0:03:55.880 the Soviet Union back when Stalin was in power and 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:59.680 the Soviets were American allies. The article said Harriman was 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.760 travel to Moscow as a private citizen. He wasn't on 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:06.480 official US business, But it also said that before he 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:09.840 left for Moscow, he met with the Secretary of State 0:04:09.960 --> 0:04:13.920 George Schultz, and that he took a State Department translator 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:14.760 with him to the meeting. 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:20.680 He essentially went as an official, unofficial envoy. 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:24.440 This is Nate Jones, our able archer sleuth. Nate wanted 0:04:24.480 --> 0:04:27.479 to know what was really said in that meeting. I mean, 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:31.240 it's not normal for an elderly retired diplomat to be 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:34.520 summoned out of his lazy boy recliner to speak with 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:38.440 the Soviet head of state. Maybe there was a detailed 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:42.680 record of Harriman's conversation within drop off. Maybe there was 0:04:42.720 --> 0:04:46.680 some hint about what was to come. So how could 0:04:46.760 --> 0:04:50.720 Nate find such a thing? With a little help from 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:55.000 a friend called FOYA the Freedom of Information Act. It 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.760 gives us citizens the right to request government documents. Believe 0:04:58.839 --> 0:05:01.640 me when I say that Nate ownes, lives, and breathes 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:05.640 foyas he's currently the FOYA director at the Washington Post. 0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:11.080 Foya Nate is his Twitter handle, for God's sake. So 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:13.160 the FOYA process looks like this. 0:05:14.480 --> 0:05:17.960 The first most important step is to figure out what 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:20.279 records exists that you want to request. 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:23.560 In this case, he figured an important meeting between a 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:26.400 retired diplomat and the head of the Soviet Union. There's 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:28.800 got to be a report on that meeting, right or 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:33.200 like at least some notes. The next step is you 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:36.520 have to figure out which agency holds the document you want. 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:40.440 And there are, depending on how you count, some two 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:43.960 hundred and fifty agencies and components in the federal government. 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.240 So part of the problem is finding the right one 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:48.919 to file to, and it's tricky. I think once you 0:05:49.000 --> 0:05:52.000 do this long enough, you get kind of an intuition. 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:55.120 Nate figured if there was any record of this meeting 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:57.599 between and Drop Bob and Harriman, it would be in 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:01.200 the State Department. So next file a FOYA. 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:06.120 A simple form letter that says, under the FOYA, I 0:06:06.240 --> 0:06:10.560 request this document held by your agency, and then you wait. 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:16.160 The law says that they're supposed to release the records 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:18.040 within twenty working days. 0:06:19.520 --> 0:06:24.839 Twenty working days, okay, we're talking about the government here. 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:28.760 I'm sorry, it just it never takes twenty days. I mean, hell, 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:30.599 it rarely takes twenty months. 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:33.080 Is not for the faint of heart. You have to 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:34.800 be in it for a long battle. 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:40.239 Being a FOYA warrior entails a lot of polite reminders. Hey, Sandra, 0:06:40.480 --> 0:06:44.080 me again. Yeah, I'm still interested in that top secret 0:06:44.120 --> 0:06:47.120 document that you're five years late in releasing any update 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:50.480 on that. You know, just let me know whenever you 0:06:50.480 --> 0:06:58.320 get a chance. The State Department eventually answered Nates Foya 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:01.040 they had detailed notes from the Harman meeting, which they 0:07:01.080 --> 0:07:06.000 released a Nate totally unredacted. He was thrilled until he 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.360 read it, and then he was freaked out because the 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:13.120 contents of the conversation were very alarming. 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:18.280 Aevrel Harriman said that and drop Off three times warned 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:21.680 of the risk of nuclear war through miscalculation, and told 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:25.200 him explicitly and genuinely that he feared that their Reagan 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:28.840 administration may be moving towards the dangerous red line of 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:29.600 nuclear war. 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:34.960 Three times and drop Off warned of potential miscalculation. Maybe 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.880 the guy had a nuclear crystal ball after all. Basically, 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:41.720 and drop Off asked Harreman to tell Reagan to please 0:07:41.880 --> 0:07:45.080 tone things down, make sure all this tension doesn't keep 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:50.200 ratcheting up or worse become normalized. He asked for dialogue 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.880 before they found themselves on an irreversible path to the 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:55.480 worst possible outcome. 0:07:56.440 --> 0:08:00.520 Please go back and make sure that despite our differences, 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:03.840 we don't have the catastrophe of nuclear war and. 0:08:03.840 --> 0:08:07.240 Drop off said he'd wait for Reagan's call. Harriman may 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:09.640 as well have stayed home in the US that week hell, 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.080 instead of spending twenty hours on an airplane, he could 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:14.360 have gone to that new blockbuster of war games, which 0:08:14.400 --> 0:08:21.040 coincidentally came out that weekend, because Reagan never picked up 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:32.520 that phone. 0:08:34.320 --> 0:08:37.560 Do you think that one of the reasons why this 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:42.600 whole period was so dangerous was because there were no 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:47.640 channels of communication between the two sides, that the complete 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:49.320 different perceptions going on. 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:51.800 This is from an interview that was conducted for the 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:55.199 documentary nineteen eighty three, The Brink of Apocalypse. 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:58.839 In this particular period o Rhon as we were in 0:08:58.960 --> 0:09:02.680 know they see to have broken down and there was 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:07.559 no understanding anymore. And that I think is what made 0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.880 that particular period in the Code War was so dangerous. 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:16.280 And that's Ryner Rupp, agent Dopez, you remember him from 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:20.000 last episode Stazi man infiltrating NATO spying for the East 0:09:20.000 --> 0:09:24.120 alongside his wife. Rupper calls the moment when he could 0:09:24.120 --> 0:09:27.640 sense the Stazi were getting a bit more nervous. It 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:30.840 became clear to him that the Soviets were preoccupied with Ryan. 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:35.720 They truly believed a surprise nuclear attack was imminent. 0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:40.600 I was asked to keep my eyes open. I also 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:46.160 had systems to relay back of information very fast. 0:09:46.400 --> 0:09:49.680 Which was actually very unusual. It's just not easy for 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:52.240 a spy to get messages across the Iron Curtain quickly. 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:54.559 You can't call up your handler and say, hey, Boris, 0:09:55.200 --> 0:09:58.719 guess what secret documents I perused in my NATO job today. 0:09:58.840 --> 0:10:01.360 That would be a surefi way to get caught. I mean, 0:10:01.440 --> 0:10:06.280 come on, no spies usually handed off messages physically, so 0:10:06.320 --> 0:10:08.160 getting a message to the other side of the Iron 0:10:08.200 --> 0:10:11.400 Curtain took time days at best. But if NATO was 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:16.440 preparing a nuclear attack, the East wouldn't have days. So 0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:19.160 one day in early nineteen eighty three, Rupp met with 0:10:19.200 --> 0:10:21.840 his handlers. They presented him with a brand new spy 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:25.000 tool that would significantly speed things up. 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.640 It looked like an electronic calculator. 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:32.480 A classic espionage gadget, an ordinary item rewired to do 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:33.840 something extraordinary. 0:10:34.720 --> 0:10:37.600 I would write my message down, I would code it 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:39.120 into numbers. 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:41.679 Type the numbers into this sneaky spy calculator. 0:10:42.280 --> 0:10:46.160 This little machine would then condense all this into a 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:49.720 very short sound like a World Beat. 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:55.160 He'd take this magic calculator to a payphone the normal telephone. 0:10:55.240 --> 0:10:57.680 Payphones were normal in nineteen eighty three. Kids just roll 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:00.440 with it. And then he'd dial a number for an 0:11:00.520 --> 0:11:03.880 elderly woman in East Germany. He'd say, Grandma, I'd like 0:11:03.920 --> 0:11:06.440 to come visit you, which was a code phrase that 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:10.840 would signal this Grandma to start recording the call. Rub 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:12.280 would hold up the calculator to the. 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:15.040 Phone, put that thing on the receiver. 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:19.520 And transmit the coded message. Now, for anyone surveilling the call. 0:11:20.000 --> 0:11:22.440 It would just sound like a crackling in the line. 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:26.280 They hang up. Grandma then calls the SAZI. They rush over, 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:28.120 retrieve the recording, and then. 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:30.280 De sigh for it and see the message. 0:11:30.360 --> 0:11:34.040 The intel is transmitted in minutes instead of days. 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:36.679 So that was in case of emergencies. 0:11:37.240 --> 0:11:41.319 Emergencies Well, turns out there would only be one emergency 0:11:41.520 --> 0:11:44.040 that was so urgent Ryan or Rupp had to use 0:11:44.120 --> 0:11:47.280 this system. It was a day in November nineteen eighty three, 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:51.680 during Exercise Able Archer. But before we get to that 0:11:51.760 --> 0:11:54.840 faithful day, the US and the Soviet Union were about 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:58.640 to be further downgraded from enemies to I don't know 0:11:58.679 --> 0:12:02.360 what's worse than enemies arch enemies. I'm going to workshop that. 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:07.280 I'll get back to you, because in the middle of 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.160 the most tense time in the Cold War, Reagan would 0:12:10.160 --> 0:12:14.240 make a batshit crazy decision. He was already poking the 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:17.640 bear publicly humiliating the Soviet Union and backing them into 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:21.200 a nuclear corner. But now it's almost like he wanted 0:12:21.240 --> 0:12:25.160 to start stabbing the bear. And you don't stab bears. Okay, 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:27.719 just kidding any get cat. 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:29.960 You know, this is the kind of thing you could 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:32.440 put in a kid's book about, like standing up to 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:33.000 a bully. 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:37.520 This is everyone's favorite nuclear historian Jeffrey Lewis talking about 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:39.160 Reagan and his administration. 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:42.160 To them, the Soviet Union was big and powerful in 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:44.439 a bully and they were going to stand up. And 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:46.000 you know, at the end of the kid's book, the 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:50.600 bully backs down. And so he's looking at the global 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:55.680 military posture and he's trying to imagine ways to restore 0:12:56.160 --> 0:13:00.000 the strength and the impressiveness of the United States. 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:03.120 In order to do this, Reagan needed to know what 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:06.800 the Soviets were capable of. And as we've established, he's 0:13:06.800 --> 0:13:09.120 not going to call and drop off. Of course, not 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:13.199 that would be too easy, so instead he decided to 0:13:13.360 --> 0:13:17.560 test their abilities and their resolve. So he gave the 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:23.920 order for the military to execute psychological operations, or syops. 0:13:25.080 --> 0:13:27.960 Here's how these syops went down. A big navy fleet 0:13:28.000 --> 0:13:30.800 would cross the Pacific and approach the Soviet Union from 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.040 the east, and then day after day, US fighter jets 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:38.400 would fly right up to Russian airspace and then at 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:43.000 the last minute turn around and come back home. And 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:46.840 then they'd do it again and again and again, but 0:13:46.960 --> 0:13:51.360 sometimes they would actually cross the line. One ship shut 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:55.559 off its electronics and approached Soviet waters. Then six Navy 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:59.200 planes took off. They actually flew over Russian islands, zipping 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:02.400 through Soviet air. As one writer put it, they flew 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:04.000 up Ivan's nose. 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:07.880 Putting the fear of God like literally into the Soviets. 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:11.880 The goal of the exercise was twofold. Number one observed 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:15.800 their defenses. Number two just fuck with their heads a 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:17.640 little or maybe a lot. 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:22.560 If you're the Soviets and you are seeing aircraft and 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:28.160 ships doing unexpected things and probing your defenses, possibly that's 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:31.520 an exercise. Possibly that's a signal to show you that 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:34.520 they that the US means business. But it also looks 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:37.560 a lot like reconnaissance for an attack. It looks a 0:14:37.600 --> 0:14:40.280 lot like a dry run of something you might do later. 0:14:40.960 --> 0:14:45.480 It looks like probing to find weakness. And so again, 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:49.600 any deviation from a typical exercise pattern is going to 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:52.320 naturally raise alarm bells because the other side is like, 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.960 why are you doing this? So they're feeling anxious and 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:59.360 constantly worried about it. People are kind of putting it 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:03.040 together like you, well, this is like unwise. It was 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:06.600 creating a total panic inside the Soviet Union. 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.920 That panic started from the top, but it went all 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.760 the way down the chain of command because the Soviet 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.800 leaders put out the word the first radar operator who 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:17.920 spotted any planes off the coast was going to get 0:15:17.920 --> 0:15:19.160 a nice, fat bonus. 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:24.880 One of the sad legacies of those psyops is that 0:15:25.120 --> 0:15:30.160 the Soviet leadership offers financial rewards to air crews if 0:15:30.200 --> 0:15:35.400 they shoot down aircraft that are entering Soviet airspace. 0:15:36.680 --> 0:15:40.480 In other words, payday for taking down suspicious planes. It 0:15:40.520 --> 0:15:42.960 was risky business for both sides, and it wouldn't be 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:50.760 long before it caused a disaster. On September, first flight 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:54.480 KAL zero zero seven departed from New York City, flying 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.960 west towards Seoul, South Korea. The same night, the Soviets 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:02.120 conducted a missile test. Soviet radars were active and the 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.680 officers at the controls weren't surprised to see that the 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:06.960 US Air Force had sent a spy plane to keep 0:16:07.000 --> 0:16:11.360 tabs on them. Classic syops. The Soviet radar operators caught 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.400 it on their scopes, but the plane was keeping its distance, 0:16:14.440 --> 0:16:18.560 following the normal flight paths. Nothing to worry about. The 0:16:18.560 --> 0:16:22.280 Soviet radar operators did what they always do. They assigned 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.080 the American spy plane a little tracking number to keep 0:16:25.120 --> 0:16:28.240 tabs on it through the night. But the spy plane 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:32.200 wasn't alone, and the hours before dawn, another object appeared 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:35.680 on the radar, flying fast from the Pacific Ocean. The 0:16:35.760 --> 0:16:38.680 Russians watched as it approached the spy plane, and then 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:42.400 the two crossed paths. For just a moment, it was 0:16:42.440 --> 0:16:45.360 impossible to tell the two aircraft apart on the radar, 0:16:46.120 --> 0:16:48.440 but as they went their separate ways, the Russian radar 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:52.880 operators had to make a choice which tracking label should 0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:57.440 go with which plane. They hoped, maybe prayed, that they 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:02.280 didn't mix them up. Mixed them up, and when they did, 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:04.639 the radar showed that the air force plane was headed 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:08.680 straight for Russia. But it wasn't the air force plane. 0:17:09.359 --> 0:17:13.080 It was actually KL zero zero seven, a commercial flight 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:18.120 with two hundred and sixty nine civilians on board. Soviet 0:17:18.160 --> 0:17:21.720 pilots scrambled in minutes, Russian fighter jets were up in 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:24.040 the air, catching up to the plane. For a moment, 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:26.880 the Russian pilots were confused. The plane they were looking 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:30.200 at wasn't exactly acting like a military flight, lights flashing 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.119 on its outstretched wings. It was practically a homing beacon. 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:38.320 A military plane wouldn't have any lights on at all. 0:17:40.640 --> 0:17:44.119 This is Soviet pilot Major Osipovic. He says, I see it. 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:46.959 I'm locked onto the target. He takes note that the 0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:51.080 plane resembles a passenger aircraft. He doesn't believe that it's 0:17:51.080 --> 0:17:53.919 a spy plane. So then he tries to call the 0:17:53.960 --> 0:18:00.960 plane on the radio, demands that it changed course. He says, 0:18:01.080 --> 0:18:04.880 the target isn't responding to the call. Osipovich is commanded 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:09.800 to fire a warning shot. He does so, still no response. 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:13.760 Ka L zero zero seven just kept barreling on in 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:18.440 total radio silence. Then the Soviet generals on the ground 0:18:18.640 --> 0:18:24.560 made the call destroy the target. Osipovich has his orders. 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:32.040 He fires. I have executed the launch, he says. Missiles 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:35.080 shred the wing and tail of KL zero zero seven. 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.960 It spirals into the ocean, a trail of fire, signaling 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:46.879 its fatal dive. Ossipovitch confirms the hit. The target is destroyed, 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:51.080 and just like that, two hundred and sixty nine innocent 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:52.000 people are dead. 0:18:59.040 --> 0:19:01.960 One story, it's the Free World news media tonight, the 0:19:02.080 --> 0:19:04.879 killing of two hundred and sixty nine innocent people. I 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:09.200 bought a Korean jumper jet that drifted into Soviet territory at. 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:13.160 The university, who were just shocked. That was very profound 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:18.920 that I remember talking to my friends about, like who 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:23.320 did that? Who would shoot down an airliner full of civilians. 0:19:23.960 --> 0:19:28.160 This is Vetlana Savranskaya recalling the confusion of Soviet citizens. 0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:30.920 When news broke about the downing of flight KL zero 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:31.919 zero seven. 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:35.879 The Soviets issued the denial that they did not shoot 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:41.880 the airliner and that this is all American provocation. Nobody 0:19:41.960 --> 0:19:44.080 shot at the liner. We don't know where it is. 0:19:44.160 --> 0:19:47.040 It went somewhere, maybe it crashed, but we had nothing to. 0:19:47.000 --> 0:19:47.480 Do with it. 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:53.000 Maybe the plane just crashed. Not exactly believable, but they 0:19:53.040 --> 0:19:54.840 were desperate to cover their asses. 0:19:55.080 --> 0:19:58.040 The United States is demanding that the Soviet Union explained 0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:00.560 why it shot down a Korean Airlines plane that had 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:02.160 straight into Soviet airspace. 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:06.960 A week later, the Soviets submitted that they actually shot 0:20:07.080 --> 0:20:08.200 down the airliner. 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:11.720 It wasn't long before the Soviets realized that they were 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:14.639 not going to get away with this lie, so the 0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:18.520 story changed. Yes, they shot down the plane, but it 0:20:18.640 --> 0:20:20.000 wasn't actually their fault. 0:20:20.680 --> 0:20:23.600 As outrage mounts over the down to Korean airliner in 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:25.800 Moscow claims it was a spy plane. 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:30.080 Later, the pilot Osipovitch revealed that Soviet officials forced him 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:33.480 to record a fake radio exchange from a script. The 0:20:33.560 --> 0:20:36.960 idea was to replace the original transmission, rewriting the facts 0:20:37.000 --> 0:20:41.000 of that night's events, scrubbing the fact that Osipovich did 0:20:41.160 --> 0:20:44.600 actually warn his commanders that the plane in question looked 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:48.280 like a passenger aircraft before those commanders ordered him to 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:51.119 shoot it down. They even had him hold an electric 0:20:51.200 --> 0:20:53.119 razor up to the mic to try to mimic the 0:20:53.200 --> 0:20:56.760 sound of a cockpit yep. Definitely, what I'm seeing here 0:20:56.800 --> 0:21:01.040 is an American warplane, just absolutely covered with weapon. Oh yeah, 0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:03.480 it's got American flags paid it all over it. There's 0:21:03.520 --> 0:21:06.879 an Uncle Sam riding on top. I mean, this is unmistakable. 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:11.720 Oh well, nice, try, guys. Unlucky for them that Japanese 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:15.040 had intercepted the original transmission that night, and they had 0:21:15.080 --> 0:21:18.600 already shared the recording with Ronald Reagan. He knew the truth, 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:22.360 and he was going to make sure everyone knew what 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:26.080 the Soviets had done. Days after the attack, Reagan addressed 0:21:26.080 --> 0:21:28.400 the nation from behind the desk in the Oval Office. 0:21:28.840 --> 0:21:32.879 They deny the deed, but in their conflicting and misleading protestations, 0:21:33.480 --> 0:21:37.680 the Soviets reveal that, yes, shooting down a plane, even 0:21:37.720 --> 0:21:40.960 one with hundreds of innocent men, women, children, and babies, 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:44.760 is a part of their normal procedure if that plane 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:47.320 is in what they claim as their airspace. 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:50.280 He said, no way, this could be a mistake. The 0:21:50.359 --> 0:21:53.520 Russians knew these were civilians. They didn't care. That's the 0:21:53.560 --> 0:21:56.800 Communist way. He played recordings of the Soviet radio chatter 0:21:56.880 --> 0:21:58.200 to a horrified audience. 0:21:58.400 --> 0:22:00.960 There is no way a pilot could mistake this for 0:22:01.080 --> 0:22:04.640 anything other than a civilian airliner. It was an act 0:22:04.640 --> 0:22:05.400 of barbarigim. 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:08.480 But here's the thing, It was a mistake. 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:15.240 The shooting was a tragic mistake. The United States knew 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:19.880 practically immediately because they were able to get the intercepts 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:25.480 of the Russian military communications, that the shooting was actually 0:22:25.920 --> 0:22:29.720 a tragic mistake, that it was not deliberate, that they 0:22:29.840 --> 0:22:34.000 actually thought they were shooting at an American spyplane. 0:22:35.040 --> 0:22:37.520 So if Reagan knew it was an accident or at worst, 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:40.960 a miscalculation, why was he going on television to say 0:22:40.960 --> 0:22:43.720 the Soviets killed innocent civilians on purpose. 0:22:44.400 --> 0:22:47.679 To the Soviet elite, it felt like they were doing 0:22:47.680 --> 0:22:53.119 it intentionally to prepare their own population and the European 0:22:53.200 --> 0:22:58.240 populations to a new round of tension, or maybe a 0:22:58.320 --> 0:22:59.640 preparation for war. 0:23:00.880 --> 0:23:05.240 Reparation for war. Reagan must be spinning the Korean air 0:23:05.280 --> 0:23:08.639 tragedy as propaganda priming the world for a war against 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:12.560 the Soviet Union, right, it was the only explanation that 0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:16.879 made any sense to the Soviet leaders. They were terrified 0:23:16.880 --> 0:23:20.600 that a surprise nuclear attack was imminent. And what do 0:23:20.600 --> 0:23:24.880 the Russians do when they're scared? They build a computer. 0:23:30.119 --> 0:23:34.520 In the military space. The key issue is reaction time, 0:23:34.880 --> 0:23:40.600 decision making speed, and also eliminating the human element from 0:23:40.920 --> 0:23:42.520 carrying out those decisions. 0:23:43.560 --> 0:23:46.600 This is Simon Miles, assistant professor at Duke. He says, 0:23:46.640 --> 0:23:49.560 the Soviet leaders were increasingly concerned that the US was 0:23:49.640 --> 0:23:53.359 going to attack in what's called a decapitating strike, which 0:23:53.440 --> 0:23:56.320 is exactly what it sounds like, chopping off the head 0:23:56.359 --> 0:23:59.520 of the Soviet Union, killing the leaders in one fell swoop. 0:24:00.359 --> 0:24:05.000 Nobody to retaliate. The solution hit back, even if the 0:24:05.080 --> 0:24:10.520 leaders were dead, with an automatic computerized nuke launching system, 0:24:10.640 --> 0:24:13.040 utterly terrifying. 0:24:13.000 --> 0:24:16.120 Basically a strange lovey and doomsday device. 0:24:16.480 --> 0:24:20.359 About time somebody brought up that old Stanley Kubrick chestnut. 0:24:19.920 --> 0:24:22.760 The doomsday machine. 0:24:22.160 --> 0:24:24.000 The doomsday machine? 0:24:24.040 --> 0:24:24.359 What is that? 0:24:24.880 --> 0:24:28.440 A device which will destroy old human and animal life 0:24:28.520 --> 0:24:29.000 on earth? 0:24:30.000 --> 0:24:33.720 Doctor Strangelove is fiction, But yeah, the Soviets did build 0:24:33.760 --> 0:24:36.760 a system that would do basically the exact same thing. 0:24:37.359 --> 0:24:40.439 They called it perimeter. When we found out about it 0:24:40.440 --> 0:24:42.679 in the US, we called it dead hand. 0:24:44.840 --> 0:24:48.960 Nuclear weapons are stationed under these massive walls of concrete 0:24:49.160 --> 0:24:51.800 and rebar in sort of the far flung portions of 0:24:51.840 --> 0:24:52.600 the Soviet Union. 0:24:52.880 --> 0:24:54.760 But this is fantastic strange love. 0:24:55.000 --> 0:24:56.679 How can it be triggered automatically? 0:24:57.560 --> 0:24:59.399