VR simulation of nuclear attack puts presidential reflexes to test
IT WAS a lovely day and I was sitting in the Oval Office, thinking about a stroll in the rose garden. Suddenly, my peaceful afternoon was rudely interrupted.
“Mr President, we have a national emergency!” yelled a voice on a speaker.
Next thing I knew all hell was breaking loose and I was rushed to the Situation Room. A man with a black case – the “nuclear football” – was at my side.
In actuality, I was blundering around in a bunker at Princeton University with a virtual reality headset on.
I was a guinea pig in an experiment to gather data on how a US president would react in the chaotic, pressure cooker situation of a nuclear attack.
Dozens of people, including former government officials, have been submerged into this chilling scenario. According to those behind the experiment the vast majority of people who go through it do launch nuclear weapons, killing millions. Some go straight for the option which takes out Russia’s leadership and annihilates the country.
The experiment is a collaboration between Princeton, American University and the University of Hamburg, and data are expected in the summer. Its simulation was created by the British virtual reality company Holosphere. As I walked into the room, I was greeted by the head of US Strategic Command. I was told 301 Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) were heading towards the US. They were going to take out all our land-based ICBMs if I didn’t launch them in the next 15 minutes. There was a clock on the desk.
Whatever my response, two million Americans would die in this strike. The nuclear football was opened up and three response options were placed on the table in front of me.
The least catastrophic involved launching our land-based ICBMs, which would take out Russia’s remaining ones, along with some of its air and submarine bases. It would kill between five million and 15 million people. The most extreme option went much further, killing up to 45 million Russians, including Vladimir Putin.
The clock was ticking. I asked if I could call the Kremlin. The Pentagon already had. No answer.
I asked, if I did nothing, could our allies – the UK and France – respond on our behalf later. Had we talked to Boris Johnson? The Pentagon was “trying to get hold of him”. Were the UK and France under attack too? “We don’t know,” I was told. The clock ticked down some more.
Panicking, I did what I suspect many do. I adopted the “cheapest bottle of wine on the menu” approach. No one will blame me if I go for Option 1, I thought. That kills the least people.
Out came the “nuclear biscuit”, the small card with the launch code, and the general asked me to authenticate.
I read the code. A split second later I felt an overwhelming sense of guilt. “Argh, I’ve just killed five million people … what have I done?!”
There are no do-overs in nuclear war. But I opted to sit through it again. This time I used the 15 minutes to quiz Strategic Command. The clock ran out and I was rushed away to a secure bunker, having failed to launch.
Remarkably, the US president does not undergo this kind of training. The only who did was Jimmy Carter nearly half a century ago.