About this episode

The episode discusses the Able Archer 1983 incident, a near nuclear war scenario during the Cold War, featuring insights from guest Brian Morra.

It's November of 1983, the closest the world came to nuclear war, some may argue even closer than the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Yet the Able Archer 1983 exercise incident is relatively unknown by comparison. A series of events that started with the Soviet shootdown of a Korean Air Lines plane, ended with not one but two almosts, when it came to accidental nuclear war. This included a simulated nuclear release authority request that may have been seen in Moscow as the prelude to a first strike. How these events unfolded was a result of heightened Cold War tension, antagonism, and miscommunication. Brian Morra was a US Air Force intelligence officer who had a front row seat to this, and sits down with guest host Dr. Mark Jacobson to discuss how the world came to the brink of nuclear war. Subscribe to Sasha's Substack, HUMINT, to get more intelligence stories: https://sashaingber.substack.com/ For more information about the International Spy Museum, visit: https://www.spymuseum.org/ And if you have feedback or want to hear about a particular topic, you can reach us by email at spycast@spymuseum.org. This show is brought to you by N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo, and the International…

People in this episode

Host: Dr. Mark Jacobson

Guest: Brian Morra

Topics covered

• nuclear war
• Cold War
• military exercises
• Soviet relations
• intelligence
• historical events

Keywords

• Able Archer
• nuclear crisis
• Cold War tensions
• Soviet Union
• military simulation
• Korean Air Lines
• nuclear war
• intelligence officer

Sponsors

N2K Networks, Goat Rodeo

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: International Spy Museum, HUMINT

Places: Cuba, Washington, DC

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