Nuclear security

WW3 warning: 3AM White House call that saved US from total annihilation exposed

The incident came at the height of the Cold War, as the US and Soviet Union jostled to become the ultimate global superpower. On November 9, 1979, a computer error at the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) headquarters caused an alarm and full preparation for a large-scale nuclear attack from the USSR. It led to national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski being awoken at 3AM to the news that 2,200 ballistic missiles were on their way.

It was a false alarm, but Brzezinski was not to know that and any form of retaliation would have been enough to start a real nuclear war thanks to Mutually Assured Destruction.

Lance Geiger, a history researcher and the man behind “The History Guy” on YouTube revealed the sobering details on his channel.

He said in 2018: “In the early morning of November 9, 1979, in the world’s most advanced bunker, using the brand-new and robust early warning system, the unthinkable happened.

“Decades of strategy around massive retaliation, Mutually Assured Destruction collapsed as the screens at the NORAD command centre showed indisputable that America’s worst nightmare had occurred.