In this session of the Forum, retired Col. Bob Ulin will discuss the nuclear posture of NATO in Europe in the 1970s and recount how Soviet leadership mis-read the intent of an exercise that nearly led to nuclear war.

Col. (Ret.) Bob Ulin

At the height of the Cold War, both NATO and the Warsaw Pact had thousands of tactical nuclear weapons deployed in Europe to guarantee Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) – a policy that sought to deter war. The belief was that any use of nuclear weapons would quickly escalate into a thermonuclear war thereby destroying both NATO and Warsaw Pact countries. A recently declassified top secret document notes that in 1983 “Soviet leadership was seriously concerned about the possibility of a sudden strike launched by the United States and its NATO allies… arguing that the U.S. was seeking strategic superiority in order to be able to launch a nuclear first strike.”

Retired Colonel Bob Ulin was a private first class in 1961 assigned as a special (Atomic) weapons assembler with the 3rd Gun Battalion, 39th Artillery (280mm Atomic Canon). In the 1970s he was a nuclear weapons employment officer as a captain with the 56th Field Artillery Brigade (Pershing Missiles). During NATO exercises he plotted targets in Eastern Europe to be attacked by Pershings should nuclear war break out. In 1983, as a lieutenant colonel, he was assigned as a policy analyst at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) during the nuclear war game “Able Archer 83.” It was during Able Archer 83 that Soviet leaders believed the U.S. was preparing to launch a nuclear first strike. Given that history, we will discuss if Vladimir Putin will use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

Questions about registration? – Contact Lora Morgan, lora@cgscf.org or call 913-651-0624.

For questions about the DMNSF contact Col. (Ret.) Robert Ulin, Simons Center Director, at rulin@cgscf.org or call 913-240-1495.

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The Des Moines National Security Forum is an exclusive professional information sharing and networking event exclusively for members of the forum and select invitees of the CGSC Foundation’s Simons Center and Brownells, the co-hosts of the Forum.

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