The Doomsday Machine is like a hard pill to swallow. It forces you to confront harsh realities that are far from pleasant. Yet, it is a necessary read. Anyone wanting to understand the true extent of the nuclear threat during the Cold War should read it.
I first heard about the author, Daniel Ellsberg, in a Netflix documentary “Turning Point: The Bomb And The Cold War” earlier this year. Intrigued, I researched him further. I found out he’s often hailed as the father of whistleblowing, famous for leaking the Pentagon Papers.
The Doomsday Machine is based on his notes as a RAND Corporation consultant where he advised top policy-makers officials and often had access to classified documents. His investigations reveal how the world was sitting on a nuclear tinderbox during the Cold War.
Ellsberg titled his book The Doomsday Machine, inspired by the concept of a doomsday device from Stanley Kubrick’s satirical film, Dr. Strangelove. Unlike the dark humor of the film, Ellsberg’s revelations are downright disturbing and terrifying.
You might ask why he wrote this book. Why spill the beans about things so sensitive as nuclear command procedures? Why talk about existential threats? Ellsberg states that his primary aim in writing the book was to reveal a crucial fact. The world had been close to complete annihilation for over 50 years.
In his words, “No policies in human history have more deserved to be recognized as immoral,” referring to the doomsday dangers.
The Doomsday Machine is divided into two broad sections – “The Bomb and I” and “The Road to Doomsday”.
The Bomb and I
After World War II, the USA emerged as a superpower, only to be challenged by Soviet Russia. The anti-communist became so ingrained into American politics and society that any communist-ruled country became the subject of the USA’s hatred.
Delegated Authority and Risks
While working at RAND in the early 1950s, Ellsberg made an important discovery. President Eisenhower had delegated authority to theater commanders. This delegation was for conflicts with the USSR. These commanders could act independently if the communications infrastructure was compromised. This wasn’t the only issue.
Shockingly, it wasn’t just the President or the Secretary of Defense or the Joint Chiefs of Staff who could make the decision to use nuclear weapons. The sub-commanders stationed thousands of miles from the US had this authority as well. This posed a serious risk. Any commander could launch a nuclear attack in a fit of rage or under duress or due to communication breakdowns.
Treaty Violations
The US government, obsessed with Soviet Russia, often flouted its own rules. Ellsberg documents a highly irresponsible action: docking nuclear-armed ships in Japanese waters.
Post-WWII, Japan and the US had a treaty that prohibited nuclear weapons on Japanese soil. However, Ellsberg reveals that the US often stationed warships carrying nuclear weapons at Japanese harbors. Even then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara was unaware of this.
Cold War Tensions
Before reading this book, I knew US-Soviet relations during the Cold War were tense. But I had no idea how dangerously close the two nuclear nations were to disaster. Ellsberg reveals that CINPAC (Commander in Chief, Pacific Command) had plans to target the Sino-Russian bloc in the event of conflict.
Yes, to higher-up commanders, Russia and China were one monolithic bloc. So, China would be attacked, regardless of whether it had done anything to provoke an attack.
In 1958, Ellsberg discovered a plan by CINPAC called JSCP (Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan), which involved the Army, Navy, and Air Force. This plan mandated nuking China along with the USSR, with no alternative. Again, neither the President nor the Secretary of Defense knew about the plan’s nature.
Intended Annihilation
Discovering that “General War” was defined as full-blown Armageddon, with no plans for limited war, horrified Ellsberg. The plan targeted every city in the USSR and China, with at least one nuclear warhead allocated to each city of more than 25,000 people.
America’s intention was to annihilate the Soviet Union and, to a large extent, China, even if it meant wiping out Western Europe along with it.
The bombs of the 1960s could decimate large cities. The JSCP planned to drop a total of 40 megatons on Moscow alone. Executing those plans would have wiped out half the populations of both the USSR and China.
When hydrogen bombs replaced atomic bombs, planners increased the projected casualties instead of reducing the number of bombs. Here’s Ellsberg’s reaction when he saw the graph depicting the deaths of millions from a nuclear strike:
“The graph seemed to me the depiction of pure evil. It should not exist. There should be nothing real on earth that it referred to.” – Daniel Ellsberg
Towards the end of Section 1, Ellsberg details the tactical mind games between the US and USSR. Notably, Nikita Khrushchev bluffed the Kennedy administration. He made them believe the USSR had a stockpile of nuclear weapons. In reality, it had only four. Ellsberg also covers the Berlin blockade and the Cuban Missile Crisis, showing how close the two nations came to mutual destruction.
The Road to Doomsday
In the second section, Ellsberg explains how civilians became fodder for the military during WWII.
In 1939, belligerents like Germany, the USA, Britain, and France agreed not to attack cities and target non-combatants. But this changed when Hitler bombed London and Rotterdam in 1940.
Bombing cities and killing civilians became a central part of war strategies. The fire-bombings of Dresden, Berlin, and Tokyo obliterated any remaining sense of morality.
Ellsberg’s grisly details are both abhorrent and terrifying. He describes how US Air Force General Curtis LeMay wanted to use Thermite, Magnesium, and Napalm bombs in Japan because those bombs kill more civilians, including children, over a vast area.
Many people only know about the atomic bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Ellsberg denies that these were necessary to end the war. Japan was already on the brink of defeat. For five months straight before August 1945, the US Air Force had ruthlessly bombed Japanese cities, deliberately killing as many civilians as possible.
Ellsberg’s view of American leaders is revealing. He discusses Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, noting Nixon’s desire to use nukes in Vietnam and Korea. Once, while drunk, Nixon almost ordered a 330-kiloton nuclear bomb to be dropped on North Korea.
Conclusion
Ellsberg’s book is not an easy read and isn’t something you can finish in one or two sittings. The heavy use of acronyms and military terminology can befuddle some readers. That said, despite its disturbing facts, you need to read and absorb this book slowly. Ellsberg had meticulously researched it. A glance at the bibliography reveals his effort. It has 35 pages of notes and a comprehensive index.
Daniel Ellsberg passed away in June 2023 at the age of 92. Through The Doomsday Machine, he left the world a stark and terrifying revelation of Cold War-era nuclear policies and the catastrophic risks of poor decision-making. His ultimate hope was to see a world free of nuclear weapons. But have world powers adhered to his vision?
Despite some progress through various treaties and agreements, the complete elimination of nuclear weapons remains an ongoing challenge. His life’s work serves as a sobering reminder of what is at stake. It is also a call to action for future generations.
Carl Sagan once remarked, “The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five.” The one with fewer matches wrongly feels that having more would bring security. Even if a nation launches a successful first strike, it could trigger a nuclear winter from its own missiles, making any victory hollow.
The lesson is clear: The outcome of a nuclear war can only be a pyrrhic victory, leaving nothing for the victor to celebrate.
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