NT-5066

Opening slate: NET NY At Issue Nike X

Pan of peaceful countryside in Missouri. Farmland. A lake with grassy small hills behind. Birds chirping in the background. Shot ends on a huge slab of cement in the middle of this peaceful place. Underneath is Minuteman Missile poised for launch

Glass proof under ground capsule built under a wood framed block house in the middle of farm lands in Missouri. A man in protective gear yells to stand clear of the heavy door as it opens.

CU of hand turning a dial on the control panel. Another man removes a cover revealing a key hole where he inserts a key.

CU of rough ocean water. A Polaris submarine drives by.

Hydrogen Bomb carrying B-52's fly over head.

Bird's eye view of Nike X. CU of Nike X, anti-missile system. A computer monitored scanning device.

INTERVIEW:
Austin Betts 4:23
the Nike X system as it is now being designed will in fact perform as our studies have predicted. It could provide the level of effectiveness against ballistic missile attack that was described by Mr. McNamara in his recent posture statement. No invention is required in order to complete development of the system.

US Senator Henry Jackson
INTERVIEW:
Henry Jackson 5:07
will it save lives? Will it deter a general thermonuclear war? I think one has to say that this is a highly problematical thing. This is why we've not been able to come to a proper resolution in a timely way. We would certainly like to have a device that could stop practically all incoming missiles to save the civilian population of our country. And if we had this kind of capability, it would certainly tell the adversary look, it's no point and you're trying to start a general war, because you're not going to win.

Birds Eye shot of hundreds of people slowly working their way through a roped off back and forth line outside of city building. A few people are interviewed about their opinion of the new missile and preparing for war.

A rocket launching Sputnik into orbit.

People cheering as President Kennedy rides down a packed street in a convertible. Armed officers run along the side of the car for protection.

Army tanker drives by. Military men launching missiles.

Kennedy chats with Secretary McNamara.

Polaris submarine in the ocean

missile launches high into the sky.

Pencil sketch cartoon of "The Mexican Standoff." Men shake hands while holding runs at each other with their other hands.

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev communist leader of the Soviet Union.

General de Gaulle

Animated rendering of how Nike X missiles would work to protect US cities.

General Austin Betts, US Army Chief of Research and Development.
INTERVIEW:
Austin Betts 15:52
the army doesn't claim that a perfect defense is achievable against a massive Soviet attack. We do insist that the penalties they must pay to have a high probability of defeating the Nike X system would be severe. The fact is that an enemy would have to commit a significant fraction of his muscle Halo in order to penetrate the Nike X defense.

General Arthur Trudeau, former Chief of Army Research and Development holds up a metal fragment from the Nike Zeus. H is now president of The Gulf Research Operation.
INTERVIEW:
Arthur Trudeau 16:51
So we're now approaching six years of advanced development on this missile, and for my money, it's time to produce it and deploy it and I think we need it. I also think there seems to be a philosophy to delay production just as long as possible, possibly due to this disarmament aspect. It is uppermost in some people's minds, and possibly because they consider the things we have are sufficiently on to our needs at this time. Both of these can be dangerous. I would rather see Zeus sprint or the Nike X system if you want to call it that. Be on station three years too early or five years too early, or I'd hoping nothing Whatever happened to it, then to be five minutes too late.

Two students walk outside of a building on Princeton campus.
Interview with Oskar Morgenstern, Mathematician.

INTERVIEW:
Oskar Morgenstern 19:02
Let's assume it will work. I mean, then I think the main problem would be apart from the great economic effort which is involved in this tremendous expense, but I would minimize that because if it were really absolutely successful, then surely the country could afford to put up any such defensive system. But the the real problem seems to me to be an organizational one, because the whole thing would only make sense, if it is at any moment, always at the possible pitch of needed performance. And I cannot see how one can organize a complicated thing of this kind in this manner, so that it will always at a moment's notice, be able to rise to the up to moment maximum of what is required of it. If nothing happens for many years, as we hope it wouldn't be it I mean, it wouldn't be a real problem to keep the thing at this high level pitch.

MIT Dean of Science, Jerome Wiesner
INTERVIEW:
Jerome Wiesner 21:03
Well, we believe that the deployment of such a system by the United States and by the Soviet Union would accelerate the arms race which at the moment is relatively stable and quiet. And if one either one of us were to begin the large scale deployment of an anti missile system, the minimum that it would do would cause the other side to have to do that, and very likely all and that certainly might cause a rather considerable acceleration in the purchasing and deployment of offensive weapons as well. And in addition, the anti ballistic missile system requires whether a very substantial civil offense program shoulder program to be effective

Small aircraft takes off outside of the Pentagon.

Office of Joint Chiefs of Staff

Chinese military men chant and cheer raising their rifles in the air in unison. Chinese leaders wave to a crowd. A massive crowd of Chinese men and women are gathered all holding weapons.

Man studies a map on the wall then winds it back up and sits at his desk. Herman Kahn, leading nuclear theorists.
INTERVIEW:
Herman Kahn 26:33
the Chinese, tend to spend Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays, trying to persuade us that they're absolutely insane. The Russians spent full time trying to persuade to the same point. And for various reasons, as the Soviet threat has tended to decrease, people wanted to replace it. So we have Americans doing the same thing. That result is a really full scale campaign against the Chinese. One, by the way, which is almost completely not shared by the scholarly community, in the terms of the estimates or their rationality, many of their objectives, intensity, and so on. Nevertheless, it is clear that many Asiatic nations most importantly, the Chinese and the Indians, will feel that US guarantees are more credible, more reliable, that we can defend ourselves from Chinese retaliation. In other words, the Asians may or may raise the same problem with regard to us credibility in Asia, that the Golan has raised in Europe. Will the United States be willing to risk or actually trade, Los Angeles for Tokyo, San Francisco for Calcutta. If we can therefore protect the cities from Chinese attack, we can then also protect Tokyo and Calcutta more reliably, because if the Chinese tried to attack these cities, we can then very credibly threaten to retaliate against China without fearing Chinese retaliation against major US cities. It is this that is one of the major arguments, though that the sole argument for a low level deployment of ABM.

Various shots of Fallout Shelter signs on large buildings in various cities.

Exterior shot of very tall high rise building in New York City. Interior shot of people entering and exiting through a revolving door. People getting on and off the elevator. Several locals are interviewed about their opinion of fall out shelters and the possibility for a bomb attack.

A L Russell, Security Administrator of Standard Oil. Iron Mountain - Atomic Storage Corp. Interior shots of this massive fallout shelter.

INTERVIEW:

A L Russell 33:03
In 1963, we took a study to see whether we were up to date and determined that a underground facility for emergency operating would be more in keeping with present circumstances. And after a survey we developed our facility which you saw and Iron Mountain.

Announcer 33:25
Iron Mountain is located 125 miles from New York City driving time two and a half hours. Mr. Russell described standard oil's facilities.

A L Russell 33:35
Our criteria said that a facility should have a possibility of low Fallout effects or it should give us adequate shielding from any fallout effects. And we believe that Iron Mountain meets these requirements. We do not refer to this as Fallout Shelter, but as an emergency operating center. I might say that it has its own independent inside power, water and other facilities. We would propose to follow as what's referred to as a DEF CON, the fence condition notices where we would take a few people on an early warning, a few more at an additional warning and we would fully manage our staff at an appropriate warning period. I'm reliably informed that there was DEF CON notices during the Cuban crisis. And I would say that this is a type of situation I think would cause us to take a hard look at putting in at least our preliminary Manning. We believe that to be realistic. We have to keep in step with the government and this is the way we're informed they are going to man their counterparts to our emergency center. We have approximately 90,000 square feet in Iron Mountain. And this provides us an opportunity or capability for emergency operating gives us a stamp of approval. optimally 60 of our operating personnel and our management, along with necessary office staff, with their families to come underground and to help the company carry out their coordination and work during emergencies. We think maybe we're one of the few or one of the first to include family members. And this was done after a great deal of thought to assure ourselves of having responsive people that could do the job. This provides sleeping accommodations for these people. To the extent possible and family units have small bedrooms, we have a few dormitories for those who are there alone, we have a capability for feeding, hopefully keeping them at an efficient state. During this period, we have food for 200 people for 30 days, which we believe is more than a period of time, we would need to be underground. Actually, our friends in government, both the Office of Civil Defense, the Office of Emergency Planning, and other agencies have indicated probably 14 to 15 days would be a maximum that we would have a fallout hazard severe enough to keep us underground. Communications obviously is one of the points that we have the greatest need for because to be responsive to government requirements. During these periods we must be able to communicate, we're continually trying to improve our communications capabilities with our far flung worldwide organization.

Young man sits at his desk working and smoking a cigarette.

Hallway inside of the Rand Corp. Computing Facility sign on office door.

Intense looking young man with dark rimmed glasses smoking a pipe sitting at a table with two other men talking about fatalities.

Exterior shot of the buildings in mountains of Colorado housing the Air Force Academy. Air Force fighter jet. Uniformed men marching in unison. Uniformed med playing drums.

Chairman of the Department of Political Science at the Air Force Academy, Colonel Wesley Posebar talks to cadets
INTERIEW:
Colonel Wesley Posebar 41:38
Gentlemen, we are about to take part in this game, as you know, which is an integral part in your course here at the Air Force Academy, and international relations and defense policy. The purpose of this game this exercise is to imitate the long range planning process, as you might encounter it in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, or perhaps in the Kremlin peeking or some other future capital of the world, which would make this kind of military decision. Now the basic structure of the game is that each team is given a budget a national budget, and your task is to allocate this budget among various strategic programs available to you, such as man bombers, interceptor missiles, strike missiles, active defenses, passive defenses, you can even purchase intelligence with certain risks, that it is not accurate. In this game, by using part of your budget, you may invest in research and development programs, with varying probabilities of being successful. Now, when you are so making these program decisions, you should be acting in accordance with your own team strategic concept, your appraisal of the 10 year or 15 year strategic posture. That might be for example, in terms of targeting, planning for counter force, or for counter value, what sometimes it's called City hostages. Strategy, I would point out, I would stress that this is only a game, it is only a simulation. And it is such it is at best, a very poor representation of the real world, let's say of the Department of Defense. And what we're trying to accomplish here is only an educational function.

Various Washington DC landmarks. The White House, The Pentagon, Capital Building, Capital Hill.

Dr. Herb, York, a former Director of Research and Development, at the Department of Defense
INTERVOEW:
Herbert York 52:57
what happens is the people who live in this world come to believe that it is, you know, the whole world. And in the extreme form, I come to believe that the whole purpose of the United States is to maintain a deterrent, that that that that's the purpose of life, rather than merely one aspect of what our national life unfortunately has to be. In, again, in the most extreme situations, they develop a Messiah Complex about about their work. They use phrases like, how can you put How can you put the budget ahead of survival? How can you put a price on survival?

Atomic bomb blasts off in a large open field. Huge cloud of smoke billows into the sky.

CU of a missile launching into the dark sky.

NET animated graphics.