Slouching Toward Nuclear War: Coorientation and NATO Exercise Able Archer 83

Abstract

ABSTRACTNATO exercise Able Archer 83 was perhaps the closest the world came to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. But whereas events in Cuba and the Atlantic Ocean can generally be placed in a matrix of deliberate move and counter-move, Able Archer illustrates the greater dangers of misunderstanding and miscommunication when nuclear weapons are involved.Using the well-known communication theory of coorientation, the author traces the messages and what might be called meta-messages, both overt and covert, verbal, written and non-verbal, sent and received, by NATO and Soviet forces to show how the crisis developed and was eventually resolved.Newly declassified documents shine a more detailed light on a week in November 1983 when the world came perilously close to nuclear war. And as the author asks, could not the crisis have been averted by a simple phone call?