Command and Control

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First published by The Penguin Press, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 2013

Copyright © 2013 by Eric Schlosser

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Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint an excerpt from “Anthem” from Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs by Leonard Cohen. Copyright © 1993 Leonard Cohen. Reprinted by permission of McClelland & Stewart.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Schlosser, Eric.

Command and control : nuclear weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the illusion of safety / Eric Schlosser.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-101-63866-8

1. Nuclear weapons—Accidents—United States—History. 2. Nuclear weapons—Accidents—Arkansas—History. 3. Titan (Missile)—History. 4. United States. Air Force. Strategic Air Command. Strategic Missile Wing, 308th. 5. Nuclear weapons—United States—Safety measures. 6. Nuclear weapons—Government policy—United States. I. Title. II. Title: Nuclear weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the illusion of safety.

ENDPAPER ART BY GIDEON KENDALL