Slouching¹

¹With acknowledgment to William Butler Yeats and Joan Didion.

Toward Nuclear War: Coorientation²

²The author has chosen to use the original McLeod/Chaffee form of “coorientation,” rather than the alternate form “co-orientation.”

and NATO Exercise Able Archer 83

ABSTRACT

NATO exercise Able Archer 83 was perhaps the closest the world came to nuclear war since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. But whereas events in Cuba and the Atlantic Ocean can generally be placed in a matrix of deliberate move and counter-move, Able Archer illustrates the greater dangers of misunderstanding and miscommunication when nuclear weapons are involved.

Using the well-known communication theory of coorientation, the author traces the messages and what might be called meta-messages, both overt and covert, verbal, written and non-verbal, sent and received, by NATO and Soviet forces to show how the crisis developed and was eventually resolved.

Newly declassified documents shine a more detailed light on a week in November 1983 when the world came perilously close to nuclear war. And as the author asks, could not the crisis have been averted by a simple phone call?

 

Resumen: El ejercicio de la OTAN Able Archer 83 fue quizás para el mundo el momento más cercano a la guerra nuclear desde la crisis de los misiles de Cuba de 1962. Pero mientras que los acontecimientos en Cuba y el Océano Atlántico generalmente se pueden ubicar en una matriz de movimientos deliberados y contra-movimientos, Able Archer ilustra los más grandes peligros derivados de la mala interpretación y de la falta de comunicación cuando se encuentran involucradas las armas nucleares. Usando la conocida teoría de la comunicación de la coorientación, el autor rastrea los mensajes y lo que se podrían denominarse meta-mensajes, tanto abiertos como encubiertos, verbales, escritos y no verbales, enviados y recibidos por la OTAN y las fuerzas soviéticas para mostrar cómo la crisis se desarrolló y finalmente se resolvió. Los documentos recién desclasificados iluminan de forma más detallada la semana de noviembre de 1983 en la que el mundo se acercó peligrosamente a la guerra nuclear. Como pregunta el autor: ¿no podría haberse evitado la crisis con una simple llamada telefónica?

KEYWORDS:

• 1983 war scare
• Able Archer 83
• coorientation
• first strike
• North Atlantic Treaty organization (NATO)
• nuclear war

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

¹ With acknowledgment to William Butler Yeats and Joan Didion.

² The author has chosen to use the original McLeod/Chaffee form of “coorientation,” rather than the alternate form “co-orientation.”

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Larry Burriss

Larry Burriss is a professor in the School of Journalism and Strategic Media at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, Tennessee USA, where he teaches Media Law and Mass Media & National Security. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in broadcast journalism from The Ohio State University, and a master’s degree in human relations from the University of Oklahoma.  Dr. Burriss earned his doctorate from Ohio University where he minored in law.  He received a law degree from Concord University. Dr. Burriss is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and saw service in Guam, South America, Germany, England, Somalia, Bosnia and the Pentagon.