Our country is safe

Conspiracy theories debunked

On January 14, 1961 our Ballistic Early Warning System on the island of Shemya indicated missiles fired toward us from Russia.

The Colonel in charge didn’t press the button right away. He ordered the civilian engineer in charge to see if there could be another cause. There was: it was the signals sent out reflecting off the rising moon and looking to the radar like missiles. Disaster avoided.

How do I know this? Yes, part of it was in the news. But I had a better view: I was there when it happened. I knew the people involved.

From June 1960 to June 1963 I was a member of the US Army Security Agency. I was taught a lot about how security was done in our country. The way it is done today is different, but many of the concepts are the same. In security, there is a saying: if two or more people know a secret, then it isn’t a secret anymore. A conspiracy of the magnitude that Trump is claiming is impossible. There are too many Colonels in the world. By Colonel I don’t mean just military. Colonel is the rank just below General. In the business and government world, it is the rank just below CEO or President. They are the ones that carry out the orders, they are the ones that keep us safe.

President Trump always boasted that he had his finger on the button. No, not really. His button only verified that the command came from him. And the only commands he could make where ones already planned. And those plans could only be implemented by Colonels at the missile sites.