Note that until 1962, there was a single nuclear attack plan that was to be followed in the event of all-out war, with no variations available. That meant that, for example, China would get a full nuclear strike no matter what the political situation was at the time, and if China had declared neutrality, the only options were to bomb the crap out of them regardless, or come up with a completely new plan on the fly, which was just about impossible.
Since 1962, the plans had built in variations, so that e.g. it would be possible to call for an all-out strike with a hold on China, and all the participants knew what to do for that case.
But still, all the planning was done in advance. US nuclear war planning assumed that we'd be retaliating for a strike on us, and thus time was of the essence. Strategic Air Command had a goal of getting all of their strike bombers airborne within 15 minutes of a warning, and they could do it. There was, of course, no actual big red button, but conceptually it was pretty close. Ordering an attack would have been a matter of authenticating the order-giver, and saying, launch the pre-planned attack.
Thanks, that's actually some interesting info. I was under the impression that the SIOP was a list of pre-planned strike patterns/plans, and whoever had the authority to order a strike would select one based on the political circumstances. Is that not the case?
It's also a little surprising, though believable, that there was only one dedicated emergency attack plan up to 1962.
Since 1962, the plans had built in variations, so that e.g. it would be possible to call for an all-out strike with a hold on China, and all the participants knew what to do for that case.
But still, all the planning was done in advance. US nuclear war planning assumed that we'd be retaliating for a strike on us, and thus time was of the essence. Strategic Air Command had a goal of getting all of their strike bombers airborne within 15 minutes of a warning, and they could do it. There was, of course, no actual big red button, but conceptually it was pretty close. Ordering an attack would have been a matter of authenticating the order-giver, and saying, launch the pre-planned attack.
Edit: I should probably link to Wikipedia's treatment of said plan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Integrated_Operational_P...