Closer than Cuba: the Able Archer Nuclear Crisis of 1983

It's November of 1983, the closest the world came to nuclear war, some may argue even closer than the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Yet the Able Archer 1983 exercise incident is relatively unknown by comparison. A series of events that started with the Soviet shootdown of a Korean Air Lines plane, ended with not one but two almosts, when it came to accidental nuclear war. This included a simulated nuclear release authority request that may have been seen in Moscow as the prelude to a first strike. How these events unfolded was a result of heightened Cold War tension, antagonism, and miscommunication. Brian Morra was a US Air Force intelligence officer who had a front row seat to this, and sits down with guest host Dr. Mark Jacobson to discuss how the world came to the brink of nuclear war.