11 April 2026
Robert Farley (Lawyers, Guns and Money, University of Kentucky) and Nate Jones (National Security Archive, Unredacted)
On Foreign Entanglements, Rob speaks with Nate about newly declassified documents concerning the secret 1983 NATO exercise Able Archer. Rob sets the stage by discussing the increase in tensions between the US and the USSR, and Nate explains why the exercise scared the Soviets. Nate then describes three sets of documents about the exercise, shedding light on Soviet fears of a US nuclear first strike, how a Warsaw Pact-NATO war in Europe would play out, and whether there was a real danger of the war game becoming real. Nate describes the “crown jewel” of declassified documents. They close by predicting the contents of declassified war on terror documents from decades in the future.
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Robert Farley
Nate Jones
Robert Farley
Nate Jones
Recorded:May 28
Posted:May 31, 2013
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Foreign Entanglements | May 31, 2013 | Robert Farley & Nate Jones
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