Warday

The first test of my ability to get sensitive documents from official sources came immediately. Both Whitley and I wanted to have a selection of documents that had been produced in the months following Warday.

Most people were too busy dealing with blown out radios, televisions, and telephones, and trying to understand what had happened to us, to worry about bureaucrats and their pronouncements.

But they were there, and they were pronouncing.

Many times since Warday I have imagined the places where the postwar planning and thinking took place, the quiet offices at the edge of the fire. I have wondered who the men—or the women—were who divided the doomed from the saved, who conceived of triage, who looked upon the rest of us with cold eyes.

Much of what I did to get documents was “illegal” in the old sense of the word. I not only took things off desks, I opened files that were supposed to be sealed. But the documents in those files cannot be stolen, especially not the two collected here, which relate to the most fundamental of wartime experiences.

Like the people behind the numbers and the places in the radioactive zones, they belong to all of us.

* * *

ESTIMATED CASUALTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE OCTOBER 1988 WAR

Deaths as a Result of October 28, 1988 Attack

New York City Area	2,961,881
San Antonio, Texas	1,081,961
Washington, D.C. Area	2,166,798
The Dakotas, Montana, and Wyoming	1,121,802
EMP-Related Accidents	8,106
Total Warday Deaths	7,340,548

Cumulative Deaths Since October 28, 1988 Attack

Cincinnati Flu	21,600,000
Famine of 1988	26,200,000
Radiation Related Illnesses	17,000,000
Other	3,000.000
Total Post-Warday Deaths	67,800,000
Total Deaths to Data	75,140,548

Total U.S. Population Changes

1987 U.S. Population	237,625,904
1992 U.S. Population, Estimated	174,384,000

[Source: CDC, 1993]

* * *

0 14 1500 ZULU MARCH 89

TO ALL DIVISIONS OF THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES

FROM JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF

COLORADO HDQ/JCS. 173.A888

UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE, THE FOLLOWING DESIGNATIONS WILL BE EMPLOYED IN DESCRIBING RADIOACTIVE ZONES:

DEAD ZONE

BLAST CENTER. VIRTUALLY UNPASSABLE. RECON ONLY BY AIRPLANE. AVOID ALL CONTACT.

NO ATTEMPT WARRANTED TO FOLLOW ILLEGAL ENTRIES.

RED ZONE

HIGH RADIOACTIVITY AREA. ADMITTANCE LIMITED TO 10 MINUTES WITH PROTECTIVE CLOTHING OR SUITABLE VEHICLE.

ILLEGAL ENTRIES MAY BE SHOT ON SIGHT.

ORANGE ZONE

VARIABLE RADIOACTIVITY. SUSTAINED ENTRY WITH SUITABLE PROTECTION.

VIOLATORS SHOULD BE GIVEN WARNING SHOT.

BLUE ZONE

VARIABLE LOW RADIATION, USE CAUTION AND PROTECTIVE CLOTHING WHENEVER POSSIBLE.

GREEN ZONE

PERIMETER AREAS. USE STANDARD MILITARY PROCEDURES FOR SECURITY IMPLEMENTATION.

ALL ROAD ENTRY TO ZONED AREAS SHOULD BE IDENTIFIED WITH APPROPRIATE NOMENCLATURE. SECURITY PROCEDURES APPLICABLE EXCEPT WHERE NOTED FOR CONTAMINATED AREAS.

THIS ORDER TO TAKE EFFECT 1300 ZULU 15 MARCH 1989

Interview Wilson T. Ackorman, Undersecretary of Defense (Ret.)