Date

Jan 30, 1976

Description

Wallace Henderson's memorandum gave general support to an Air Force program to demonstrate launch-on-warning by launching a Minuteman from Vandenberg Air Force Base in response to warning information from a Defense Support Program satellite. The point would be to "add credibility" to Defense Department statements that the U.S. had a "capability" for launch-on-warning while also mitigating concerns about "the low survivability of Minuteman in the face of mounting Soviet ICBM throw weight and accuracy." Henderson acknowledged a "negative" - that a demonstration "could revive emotional responses in Congress to discussion of "Launch on Warning."

According to the cover memorandum, Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Ellsworth cancelled the plans, perhaps concluding that a demonstration was too controversial.

Source

MDR Request to Defense Department; also published in DNSA, Nuclear History II, 1969-1976.

Document published in following posting(s):

The “Launch on Warning” Nuclear Strategy and Its Insider Critics

Jun 11, 2019