The Soviet officer who 'saved the world' by averting nuclear war dies aged 77

Rogue Valley · Sep 18, 2017

Full Title: Stanislav Petrov dead: The Soviet officer who 'saved the world' by averting nuclear war dies aged 77

By Samuel Osborne
September 18, 2017

In this August 27, 2015 photo former Soviet missile defense forces officer Stanislav Petrov poses for a
photo at his home in Fryazino, Moscow region, Russia.

Soon after midnight on 26 September, 1983, duty officer Stanislav Petrov was in charge of an early warning radar system in a bunker near Moscow when computer readouts suggested several missiles had been launched from the US towards the USSR. The protocol for the Soviet military would have been to launch a retaliatory nuclear attack, but Mr Petrov decided not to alert his superiors. "I had all the data [to suggest there was an ongoing missile attack]. If I had sent my report up the chain of command, nobody would have said a word against it," he told the BBC's Russian Service in 2013. However, he suspected a computer error, believing a first-strike nuclear attack by the US would likely involve hundreds of simultaneous missile launches. "All I had to do was to reach for the phone; to raise the direct line to our top commanders - but I couldn't move. I felt like I was sitting on a hot frying pan," he told the BBC. The duty officer decided to call the Soviet army's headquarters to report a system malfunction. "Twenty-three minutes later I realised that nothing had happened. If there had been a real strike, then I would already know about it. It was such a relief."

Despite receiving praise for his decision, he was also officially reprimanded for failing to describe the incident in the logbook. The near-crisis came at a time of heightened tensions between the US and USSR, three weeks after the Soviet military shot down Korean Air Lines flight 007, killing all 269 on board. It was later determined the false alarms were caused by a rare alignment of sunlight reflecting from clouds, which was mistaken for a missile launch. Mr Petrov retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. When his story was made public in 1998, he was widely praised for his actions, and given an award addressed "to the man who averted a nuclear war," by the Association of World Citizens in the UN headquarters in New York. “At first when people started telling me that these TV reports had started calling me a hero, I was surprised," he told RT in 2010. "I never thought of myself as one – after all, I was literally just doing my job." Mr Petrov died 19 May at his home in a small town near Moscow.

Without his correct intuition and calm response on that night in 1983, probably none of us would be reading this story today. The world at large is just finding out about his passing today. This was discovered by political activist Karl Schumacher, who received the news from Petrov's son, when he called to wish Stanislav a happy birthday.

RIP LtCol (Ret) Stanislav Petrov

Покойся с миром

Bum · Sep 18, 2017

I read his story and Bio at length....You, Sir, are a brave soul. Rest Well....you have earned it.

Skeptic Bob · Sep 18, 2017

"At first when people started telling me that these TV reports had started calling me a hero, I was surprised," he told RT in 2010. "I never thought of myself as one – after all, I was literally just doing my job."

Actually, I think people consider him a hero because he literally didn't do his job.

joG · Sep 18, 2017

Rogue Valley said:
Full Title: Stanislav Petrov dead: The Soviet officer who 'saved the world' by averting nuclear war dies aged 77

Without his correct intuition and calm response on that night in 1983, probably none of us would be reading this story today. The world at large is just finding out about his passing today. This was discovered by political activist Karl Schumacher, who received the news from Petrov's son, when he called to wish Stanislav a happy birthday.

RIP LtCol (Ret) Stanislav Petrov

Покойся с миром

Though, I am glad to be alive, I don't think it was his call to make that decision. He was lucky, but it was not the right thing to do, as it reduced the certainty of MAD and thus increased the probability that might not work. We were lucky that MAD held, but the man should have gone to prison.

Rogue Valley · Sep 18, 2017

joG said:
.... but the man should have gone to prison.

Gone to prison? Why? Because his military experience told him that the rudimentary computers and crude software of 1983 were making a huge mistake?

I don't subscribe to such monochrome thinking. I'm glad LtCol Petrov had the good sense to realize that the primitive/unsophisticated machines had reached an erroneous conclusion.

History proves Petrov was correct in his analysis born of numerous past false positives.

DaveFagan · Sep 18, 2017

joG said:
Though, I am glad to be alive, I don't think it was his call to make that decision. He was lucky, but it was not the right thing to do, as it reduced the certainty of MAD and thus increased the probability that might not work. We were lucky that MAD held, but the man should have gone to prison.

You suffer from the MAD political perspective. You are like the political type that always sends the problem uphill to play CYA. Do nothing, make no decisions. Sound familiar?
/

Bum · Sep 18, 2017

joG said:
Though, I am glad to be alive, I don't think it was his call to make that decision. He was lucky, but it was not the right thing to do, as it reduced the certainty of MAD and thus increased the probability that might not work. We were lucky that MAD held, but the man should have gone to prison.

The man made a decision based upon his experience, familiarity with the operating systems he was trained on, and the correct assumption that had the US launched a nuclear strike of any kind against the USSR, it wouldn't have been a "couple of missiles"....the nuclear stockpile of the US was between 25-30,000 in 1983.....the USSR had nearly 40,000....would you initiate a first strike total nuclear war scenario with such a miniscule number if you knew your enemy would retaliate with thousands?
That man exercised logic and sound judgment.......a pity our elected leaders don't do that more often.

EnigmaO01 · Sep 18, 2017

joG said:
but the man should have gone to prison.

Oh for the love of God! :damn:

And if we would have had WWIII you would have probably called for him to go to prison too.

EnigmaO01 · Sep 18, 2017

What's scary is this is not the first time we have been at the brink of a nuclear war and probably will not be not the last.

But they should make a statue of this man. Not the all the idiots out there that promote war and killing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nuclear_close_calls

joG · Sep 18, 2017

Polar Bum said:
The man made a decision based upon his experience, familiarity with the operating systems he was trained on, and the correct assumption that had the US launched a nuclear strike of any kind against the USSR, it wouldn't have been a "couple of missiles"....the nuclear stockpile of the US was between 25-30,000 in 1983.....the USSR had nearly 40,000....would you initiate a first strike total nuclear war scenario with such a miniscule number if you knew your enemy would retaliate with thousands?
That man exercised logic and sound judgment.......a pity our elected leaders don't do that more often.

No. As a soldier in a long line of command I would do the job and call the people that are supposed to make those decisions. A soldier that does not in a case like that follow orders should be punished severely.

joG · Sep 18, 2017

EnigmaO01 said:
Oh for the love of God! :damn:

And if we would have had WWIII you would have probably called for him to go to prison too.

The thing is, he made a war more probably by undermining the reliability of MAD. The procedure would have been to inform superiors that might have had more information and could have called the US President.

Bum · Sep 18, 2017

joG said:
No. As a soldier in a long line of command I would do the job and call the people that are supposed to make those decisions. A soldier that does not in a case like that follow orders should be punished severely.

Oh....ouch. :doh

I think I lost IQ points just reading that statement. What you have just described is blind obedience.....and a complete lack of sound judgment, critical thinking skills, and initiative. Not really the qualities one wants in a Soldier.

I don't know what Armed Forces you served in; but please...don't stop now, tell us all about your military career and leadership skills...we can compare notes.

Manc Skipper · Sep 18, 2017

It's a timely reminder that missiles still sit at launch-ready alert today.

Helix · Sep 18, 2017

Rest in Peace, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, and thank you for thinking it through before acting.

EnigmaO01 · Sep 19, 2017

joG said:
No. As a soldier in a long line of command I would do the job and call the people that are supposed to make those decisions. A soldier that does not in a case like that follow orders should be punished severely.

Blind allegiance is what you are promoting. Another world for it is stupidity.

Bergslagstroll · Sep 19, 2017

Rogue Valley said:
Full Title: Stanislav Petrov dead: The Soviet officer who 'saved the world' by averting nuclear war dies aged 77

Without his correct intuition and calm response on that night in 1983, probably none of us would be reading this story today. The world at large is just finding out about his passing today. This was discovered by political activist Karl Schumacher, who received the news from Petrov's son, when he called to wish Stanislav a happy birthday.

RIP LtCol (Ret) Stanislav Petrov

Покойся с миром

Yes an the timing of this song that came out the same year was good. That if a computer could believe clouds was missiles it could probably also believe ballons was missiles or other hostile objects.

Nena ‎- 99 Luftballons

While at a Rolling Stones concert in Berlin, Nena's guitarist Carlo Karges noticed that balloons were being released. As he watched them move toward the horizon, he noticed them shifting and changing shapes, where they looked nothing like a mass of balloons but some strange spacecraft. (The word in the German lyrics "UFO") He thought about what might happen if they floated over the Berlin Wall to the Soviet sector.

Both the English and German versions of the song tell a story of 99 balloons floating into the air, triggering an apocalyptic overreaction by military forces. The music was composed by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, the keyboardist of Nena's band, while Karges wrote the original German lyrics.

99 Red Balloons | Object Retrieval

Bum · Sep 19, 2017

Bergslagstroll said:
Yes an the timing of this song that came out the same year was good. That if a computer could believe clouds was missiles it could probably also believe ballons was missiles or other hostile objects.

Nena ‎- 99 Luftballons

99 Red Balloons | Object Retrieval

Always liked that song.

eace

Bergslagstroll · Sep 19, 2017

Manc Skipper said:
It's a timely reminder that missiles still sit at launch-ready alert today.

Yes and you have had many more indicidents like for example the Norwegian rocket incident in 1995. There it can be good to remember that Yeltsin, that had his nuclear briefcase activated and prepared for launching an attack, wasn't the most sober of presidents.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_rocket_incident

Bum · Sep 19, 2017

Bergslagstroll said:
Yes and you have had many more indicidents like for example the Norwegian rocket incident in 1995. There it can be good to remember that Yeltsin, that had his nuclear briefcase activated and prepared for launching an attack, wasn't the most sober of presidents.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_rocket_incident

Or the number or nuclear devices missing or sitting at the bottom of the oceans? There are more than a few.

CaptainCourtesy · Sep 19, 2017

joG said:
No. As a soldier in a long line of command I would do the job and call the people that are supposed to make those decisions. A soldier that does not in a case like that follow orders should be punished severely.

A soldier is not required to follow an immoral order. Calling for a nuclear strike when he knew that there was a computer error would have been immoral. That refutes your position.

CaptainCourtesy · Sep 19, 2017

Rogue Valley said:
Full Title: Stanislav Petrov dead: The Soviet officer who 'saved the world' by averting nuclear war dies aged 77

Without his correct intuition and calm response on that night in 1983, probably none of us would be reading this story today. The world at large is just finding out about his passing today. This was discovered by political activist Karl Schumacher, who received the news from Petrov's son, when he called to wish Stanislav a happy birthday.

RIP LtCol (Ret) Stanislav Petrov

Покойся с миром

I read about him a while ago. Very brave and independent thinking man living in a place where the latter was frowned upon. RIP.

joG · Sep 19, 2017

Polar Bum said:
Oh....ouch. :doh

I think I lost IQ points just reading that statement. What you have just described is blind obedience.....and a complete lack of sound judgment, critical thinking skills, and initiative. Not really the qualities one wants in a Soldier.

I don't know what Armed Forces you served in; but please...don't stop now, tell us all about your military career and leadership skills...we can compare notes.

If you rely on MAD to survive as we did, you do not want commedian breaking the rules that are checked and double checked, because the fool thinks he knows more than central command, where all the information fliws together.

joG · Sep 19, 2017

EnigmaO01 said:
Blind allegiance is what you are promoting. Another world for it is stupidity.

Nope. Wrong. I am saying that MAD was a well thought through structure that could break down, if someone acted out of line. Some grunt deciding that central cammand shouldn't receive information, because they couldn't handle it is just the kind of behavior that make the system backfire. That could for example have led to a situation, where there remained no time for the Russians to contact the American President and so missing a window of opportunity for self destruction of the missiles.

joG · Sep 19, 2017

CaptainCourtesy said:
A soldier is not required to follow an immoral order. Calling for a nuclear strike when he knew that there was a computer error would have been immoral. That refutes your position.

What was immoral was to not inform central command, because he thought he knew better. That risked full fledged war, because it reduced the time for contact between the kremlin and white house. Had the rockets been underway mistakenly, that could have meant that they could no longer be destroyed and hit their targets requiring Russia to launch a second strike. His maverick behavior could have been the human mistake that undid the MAD balance we all relied on for our lives.

Bergslagstroll · Sep 19, 2017

Polar Bum said:
Or the number or nuclear devices missing or sitting at the bottom of the oceans? There are more than a few.

Yes besides the risk of nuclear war you have the risk of accidents. Wikipedia have an extensive list of military accidents involving nuclear material.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_military_nuclear_accidents

That you have had really scary accidents like this one.

A secret document, published in declassified form for the first time by the Guardian today, reveals that the US Air Force came dramatically close to detonating an atom bomb over North Carolina that would have been 260 times more powerful than the device that devastated Hiroshima.

The document, obtained by the investigative journalist Eric Schlosser under the Freedom of Information Act, gives the first conclusive evidence that the US was narrowly spared a disaster of monumental proportions when two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs were accidentally dropped over Goldsboro, North Carolina on 23 January 1961. The bombs fell to earth after a B-52 bomber broke up in mid-air, and one of the devices behaved precisely as a nuclear weapon was designed to behave in warfare: its parachute opened, its trigger mechanisms engaged, and only one low-voltage switch prevented untold carnage.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/20/usaf-atomic-bomb-north-carolina-1961

Then you have the problem with nuclear waste, that an relative recent accident with military nuclear waste in New Mexico could lead to cost of 2 billion dollars, because the military used the wrong type of kitty litter.

The problem was traced to material — actual kitty litter — used to blot up liquids in sealed drums. Lab officials had decided to substitute an organic material for a mineral one. But the new material caused a complex chemical reaction that blew the lid off a drum, sending mounds of white, radioactive foam into the air and contaminating 35% of the underground area.

“There is no question the Energy Department has downplayed the significance of the accident,” said Don Hancock, who monitors the dump for the watchdog group Southwest Research and Information Center.

Though the error at the Los Alamos lab caused the accident, a federal investigation found more than two dozen safety lapses at the dump. The dump’s filtration system was supposed to prevent any radioactive releases, but it malfunctioned.

Nuclear accident in New Mexico ranks among the costliest in U.S. history - LA Times

The Soviet officer who 'saved the world' by averting nuclear war dies aged 77

Rogue Valley

Lead or get out of the way

Bum

I survived. Suck it, Schrodinger.

Skeptic Bob

joG

Rogue Valley

Lead or get out of the way

DaveFagan

Iconoclast

Bum

I survived. Suck it, Schrodinger.

EnigmaO01

EnigmaO01

joG

joG

Bum

I survived. Suck it, Schrodinger.

Manc Skipper

Wrinkly member

Helix

EnigmaO01

Bergslagstroll

Bum

I survived. Suck it, Schrodinger.

Bergslagstroll

Bum

I survived. Suck it, Schrodinger.

CaptainCourtesy

I'm a Jedi Master, Yo

CaptainCourtesy

I'm a Jedi Master, Yo

joG

joG

joG

Bergslagstroll