On this day, June 6, 1980, the Strategic Air Command was again alerted that the Soviet Union was attacking the US.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Apparently it was the same component that had failed three days earlier. The folks at IT tried to replicate the conditions that had brought about the earlier false alarm, and they succeeded.

Nuclear weapons, AI, and the June 1980 US false alarms

{snip}

6 June 1980

In response to the 3 June incident, NORAD took some measures, such as communicating with all users, analyzing the data, and installing some "software trap" (whatever that means). At the same time, it also placed computers back to the 3 June configuration [NRD] and tried to "duplicate the error ... hoping to reproduce the erroneous data" [HGR]. Whether as a result of these efforts or by happenstance, the error did appear again.

The 6 June timeline is more confusing. HGR says that the first erroneous reading was displayed at 3:38pm, probably Eastern Daylight Time. The NRD account places the first display at 19:49. Not only the time zone is different, but the minutes are different as well. Since the absolute time doesn't matter that much, the description below will follow the NRD times.

{snip}

Ironically, three years to the day before “WarGames” opened nationwide, this unsettling nuclear false alarm happened at NORAD:

In his 2016 book “Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War,” @fmkaplan revisited this episode, adding that when Reagan finished, he asked Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Vessey, “Could something like this really happen?”

Surprisingly, “WarGames” was not inspired by the major nuclear false alarms at NORAD on Nov. 9, 1979, and at NORAD and SAC on Jun. 3 and 6, 1980. It originally concerned a dying Hawking-like scientist and his relationship with a smart, rebellious teenager.

Link to tweet

Today in 1980, at 2:26am EDT, warning displays at the Strategic Air Command suddenly indicated that a Soviet SLBM attack on the United States was underway, first showing 2 and then, 18 seconds later, 200 inbound missiles. SAC ordered all alert air crews to start their engines.
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Launch officers for 1,000 Minuteman ICBMs were also alerted to be ready to receive an Emergency Action Message (a coded launch order). Three minutes later, duty officers at NORAD determined this was a false alarm because early-warning satellites and radars indicated no attack.



Before that happened, however, Gen. William Odom, National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski’s military asst., called him at home, telling him 220 Soviet SLBMs were hurtling toward the United States. Brzezinski told Odom to call back with a confirmation and the likely targets.



This is according to former CIA Director Robert M. Gates’ 1996 memoir, “From the Shadows: The Ultimate Insider's Story of Five Presidents and How They Won the Cold War,” the only place where this anecdote—as recounted by Brzezinski to Gates—appears.

{snip}

NMCC {the National Military Command Center} terminated the conference at 2:57am. The entire incident lasted 31 minutes. A subsequent investigation traced the cause to a defective 46¢ integrated circuit in a NORAD communications multiplexer, which sent test messages on dedicated lines from NORAD to other command posts.





Tue Jun 4, 2024: On June 3, 1980, the Strategic Air Command was alerted that the Soviet Union was attacking the US.

Mon Jun 5, 2023: On June 3, 1980, the Strategic Air Command was alerted that the Soviet Union was attacking the US.

[GreenWave]

1. I bet our Nazi rich folks were greatly pleased.

After all, the USSR faced the great brunt of the Nazi assault on the world, suffering tens of millions of lost lives. This helped DDay be more successful as the overwhelming majority of German forces were busy elsewhere.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Huh? NT

[GreenWave]

3. The US was still in its Red Scare back then inspired by Nazis allowed in the USA (Operatiom Paper Clip)

So we have many wealthy GOP donors who do want a quieter, gentler sort of fascism to take over here. Distracting the population on D-Day Remembrance back then would have brought them some emotional relief on a day when the Nazis finally started getting the snot knocked out of them from Western powers.
Despite what our hysteria, er history, books say the Germans sent HUGE forces eastward and were busy killing millions upon millions of USSR soldiers and by bombing food supplies starving millions more. Had the Nazis not ventured eastward and stayed with its huge Barbarossa* forces close to France, I think the D-Day invasion would not have even been attempted.

* Frontline strength (22 June 1941)

3.8 million personnel[1][2]
3,350–3,795 tanks[3][1][4][5]
3,030–3,072 other AFVs[6]
2,770–5,369 aircraft[3][7]
7,200–23,435 artillery pieces[1][3][5]
17,081 mortars[5]
600,000 horses[8]
600,000 vehicles[8]