Able Archer 83

Able Archer 83 was a NATO command-post exercise held in November 1983. Its realistic nuclear-release procedures heightened Soviet fears that a Western exercise might conceal preparations for a nuclear attack.

Nuclear release: The authorization and transmission of orders to use nuclear weapons. The exercise simulated procedures for seeking and communicating nuclear-release decisions.
Cold War: The prolonged geopolitical rivalry between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and its allies. The exercise’s danger arose from the wider nuclear rivalry between NATO and the Soviet bloc.
Yuri Andropov: The Soviet leader from 1982 until his death in 1984, previously head of the KGB. His government received intelligence reports that treated Western attack preparations as a serious possibility.
Able Archer 83 and the war scare: The broader 1983 episode in which Soviet leaders feared that Western actions might precede a nuclear attack. The exercise became the most acute episode in a wider period of Soviet alarm.
NATO nuclear sharing: Arrangements through which NATO allies participate in the planning and potential delivery of U.S. nuclear weapons. NATO’s nuclear command arrangements formed part of the exercise’s simulated escalation.
Operation RYAN: A Soviet intelligence effort launched in 1981 to detect signs of a Western nuclear attack. Its search for attack indicators shaped Soviet interpretation of NATO activity in 1983.
Ronald Reagan: The 40th president of the United States, serving from 1981 to 1989. His administration’s rhetoric and military policies contributed to Soviet threat perceptions.
Nuclear risk reduction: Policies and practices intended to lower the chance of accidental or unintended nuclear war. The episode demonstrates how exercise design and signaling can create escalation risks.
Nuclear command and control: The institutions, communications, and procedures governing decisions about nuclear weapons. Able Archer tested a broader system whose signals could resemble real preparations.
Able Archer: The NATO command-post exercise held in November 1983 under the name Able Archer 83. This is the exercise’s commonly shortened name.

Linked from 10 pages