Able Archer: The Invisible Cuban Missile Crisis

<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Cuban Missile Crisis is widely considered to be the closest the world has come to nuclear war. But while that crisis played out in public view, there was another close call that happened in the shadows.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In this episode the story of Able Archer 83.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href= "https://brianjmorra.com/">Brian Morra</a> is the author of “The Able Archers.” He has spent his career in intelligence and national security beginning with his time as a decorated Air Force Intelligence officer and through his many years as a senior executive in the aerospace and defense industry.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href= "https://www.cna.org/experts/Wills_S">Lt. Cdr. Steven Wills</a> served for 20 years as an active-duty U.S. Navy officer, he served on a variety of small and medium surface combatants, including an assignment as the executive officer of a mine countermeasures ship.</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Further Reading</span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Brian J. Morra, <em>The Able Archers</em> (Virginia Beach, VA: Köehler Books, 2022), <a href= "https://urldefense.us/v3/__https:/www.koehlerbooks.com/book/the-able-archers/__;!!JrmCwc4xXN63PQ!yqwpP6-bvxbYRqJAo-xo7MNJ-03GS1XgTCRvhJFYPuozkxpYzmdu4t6zMiYYGA$"> https://www.koehlerbooks.com/book/the-able-archers/</a></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bernd Schaefer, Nate Jones, and Benjamin B. Fischer, “Forecasting Nuclear War,” Wilson Center, Cold War International History Project <a href= "https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/forecasting-nuclear-war">https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/forecasting-nuclear-war</a></span></p> <p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Zach Dorfman, “The Congressman Who Created His Own Deep State. Really.” <em>Politico</em>, December 2, 2018, <a href= "https://urldefense.us/v3/__https:/www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/12/02/larry-mcdonald-communists-deep-state-222726/__;!!JrmCwc4xXN