Word: norad
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...maintain its vast surveillance system and uninterrupted communication with a network of planes, bases and radar stations, NORAD has installed 13 computers-each with its own job, each able to bail out any of the others in case of trouble. Those computers, with their intricate mix of sophisticated electronic aids, represent a new generation of automated information. Data from a BMEWS station in Alaska, for example, or a message from a Navy antisubmarine patrol plane, is fed into the banked computer memory drums and onto the glowing display consoles without ever passing through human hands or brains. So fast...
...simply pressing buttons, NORAD officers can electronically scan the entire North American continent and its distant approaches; they can track on the screens before them the flight of missiles or planes, friendly or hostile. They can, in COC jargon, "build up" a picture that includes patterns of probable radioactive fallout and areas that have been destroyed or made uninhabitable by nuclear, chemical or even biological weapons. On their console television screens, they can flash up-to-the-minute weather reports from any area of North America, the status of defensive fighters and missiles, the positions of orbiting satellites and space...
...NORAD officer with a significant combination of symbols built up on his console can transmit his "display" to any other console screen in the center or, within seconds, have it projected on the large screen for everyone to see. By pointing a narrow beam from a light gun at an area of particular interest on his console screen, an operator can enlarge that area 16-fold or cause it to flash on and off on other screens to alert the rest of the staff...
...Nuclear Hit. Little is left to human error. Should no one notice a major development, or should a number of seemingly unrelated minor developments signify trouble, electronic brains set off flashing lights, ring bells, and sound other assorted alarms. On one switch box where alarms are manually triggered, a NORAD operator has already taped a crude sign: "Don't push buttons. It makes a real offensive noise...
...What NORAD's deterrent effect amounts to is something else again. Far from cloaking the new COC in secrecy, the Air Force seems bent on letting the world in on its every detail. This week's press tours include many foreigners. A large sign has been erected beside a highway near Cheyenne Mountain blatantly informing motorists that they are approaching the heart of North America's air-defense system. The message to trigger-happy aggressors should be as obvious as that roadside sign: NORAD's invulnerable new mountain of preparedness guards some of the most impressive...