wanttaja@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Ronald J Wanttaja) (07/26/90)
From: ssc-vax!wanttaja@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Ronald J Wanttaja) > > DefCon 1, and it stands for Defense Condition 1, a nuclear war. > > ... > > DefCon 4 is a standard condition..(you know, peace) > > Not quite. > > DEFCON 5 (code-named "Fade Out") corresponds to normal > peacetime, DEFCON 1 ("Cocked-Pistol") to general war. SAC is > routinely maintained at DEFCON 4 ("Double Take"). DEFCON 3 > ("Round House") is an advanced alert in which war is deemed > possible, and DEFCON 2 ("Fast Pace") is a full alert signifying > that war is imminent. Not not quite. The "Code-names" you mention are EXERCISE terms. They're used during war games to indicate the DEFCON level of the exercise in progress. Obviously, it's to prevent misunderstandings. If an announcement said "We are now at an Exercise DEFCON One" and some poor 2d John caught only the last two words.... Instead, they use a term which cannot be mistaken for the real thing. I got a big laugh a few years ago from a typical "Newsweek" sort of article on NORAD. The writer mentioned seeing a big signboard with lights on it. He waxed dramatically at the implication of the term "Cocked Pistol". The ominous sound of it; the implication of the end of the human race. Having just got out of NORAD, I got a set of the giggles. In the first place, the term was an exercise one. In the second place, our workload was actually REDUCED at that level. When the situation was declared, we could punch a few more buttons, and sit back and watch the light show. Of course, if the *real* DEFCON had been declared, we would have been PART of the light show... :-) Then there was the time we fed the exercise tape into the live system... Ron Wanttaja (ssc-vax!wanttaja)