June 11, 2005: Dropping the Bomb - Dale Brown | Cross-Pacific Sailing Adventure - Susan Meckley
The program then features bestselling military thriller author and former B-52 navigator Dale Brown, who provides a firsthand account of pulling nuclear alert during the Cold War. Brown describes the experience of copying an actual combat execution message, putting on a lead eye patch designed to save one eye from nuclear flash, and the psychological weight of preparing to fight World War III with dial-a-boom weapons selectable from 150 kilotons to 1.1 megatons.
Brown argues that even an all-out nuclear exchange would not end the world, and controversially contends that most American presidents would choose not to retaliate after a nuclear first strike. He identifies Iran as a greater nuclear threat than North Korea, asserting that Iran likely purchased actual nuclear weapons from Russia following the Soviet collapse.
Key Moments
Susan Meckley's accidental jibe in the open Pacific: About three-quarters of the way to Hawaii, the 72-year-old solo sailor's boom swung across in an accidental jibe with enough force to rip components off the boat. She had to climb up and jury-rig repairs while still bouncing in heavy seas.
Even the President's voice can't stop a B-52 nuclear mission: Brown explains the chilling reality of strategic bombers: once a valid execution order is authenticated, voices on the radio - even your own wife or someone claiming to be the President - telling you to abort must be ignored until a properly formatted, authenticated recall arrives.
All-out nuclear war wouldn't end the world: Brown takes a contrarian position: even an all-out exchange - every ICBM, every sub-launched warhead, every B-52 weapon - would not end the world. He argues damage would be largely confined to the Northern Hemisphere with population areas and ICBM fields too scattered for total annihilation.
Dropping a bomb from 80 feet at six miles a minute: Brown's first B-52 weapon release was from 80 feet above the ground - in a windowless lower deck nicknamed 'the wine cellar', flying everything by radar scope and a checklist strapped to his leg, with the FB-111 capable of ten miles a minute that low.
If terrorists nuke an American city, we wouldn't retaliate: Brown argues that if the U.S. lost a city to a smuggled bomb, there's no target to strike back against. But North Korea is different - he says we have every target there mapped, and a desperate Pyongyang would simultaneously hit South Korea, Japan, Alaska, plus targets in China and Russia to deny their bases to U.S. forces.
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