I was watching Fail Safe. I rarely catch the start of this movie, so it was nice to see it on DVD. The ban on commentaries continues, so I had to go to IMDB, where I saw this trivia:
The US also declared DEFCON 2 at the start of the Gulf War in 1991. The stated sequence of colors is correct – blue, green, yellow, red. Omitted is white, DEFCON 1 – imminent and all but unavoidable nuclear war.
I was astonished – I’d lived through DEFCON 2? Was was I doing? How was I not even aware?
Reason 1: Well, I was in a theater on January 15, 1991, watching Edward Scissorhands after work with some friends. Oddly, before the movie the projectionist showed an image of the UN building accompanied by the national anthem. We commented that was weird, but guessed the theater owner was fond of the UN for some reason. NPR let me know we were at war on the drive home.
Reason 2: It all depends on what you mean by DEFCON 2: evidently it isn’t a universal defense condition. The strategic command may be at one defense condition and the Army another.
Scary. By the way, 9/11? DEFCON 3.