ABSTRACT
The task Group began by explaining that their mission was but one of thousands in the Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP) for nuclear war. The SIOP included what not only our aircraft in Independence would do but also the Air Force's intercontinental ballistic missiles and bombers, as well as the Navy's submarine-launched ballistic missiles and aircraft from other carriers. The aircraft carrier had been assigned inconsequential targets because the United States had many more nuclear weapons than it needed. For much of the nuclear era, presidents were effectively limited to a small number of options—all involving massive numbers of weapons. If a conventional war being waged inside that umbrella went badly, they presumed we Americans would launch attacks with long-range nuclear weapons directly on the Soviet Union and outside the umbrella. That would open the United States to nuclear retaliation. Americans assumed people would employ short-range tactical nuclear weapons inside the umbrella. The retaliation would be on Western Europe.
