Inspired by *297's recent thread looking at the possibility of an accidental nuclear detonation at the Victory Day parade in Moscow.
Clearly the scenario itself is of low plausibility; I'm more interested in looking at it in the context of what, if any, continuity of government planning existed in the USSR and how it would respond to such a scenario.
1. Did these kind of events have a designated survivor system like is currently in place in the US to secure succession in the event of a such a disaster, i.e. loss of the general secretary and all/most of the Politburo?
2. Is there a system similar to the Presidential locator system?
3. Where does nuclear release authority devolve do? Head of the strategic rocket forces? Local theater commanders?
4. Did the Perimetr system basically obviate the need for finding/stashing a successor for these possibilities, i.e. basically automating things in the event of loss of Soviet NCA?
It's hard for me to see how such a scenario doesn't end in a strategic level exchange secondary to command confusion and underlying paranoia that it represents the initial stages of a decapitation strike but I don't know enough about the Soviet system to know for sure.
I realize there may not be much information on these available due to its sensitive nature but any insight or additional reading would be much appreciated!
Clearly the scenario itself is of low plausibility; I'm more interested in looking at it in the context of what, if any, continuity of government planning existed in the USSR and how it would respond to such a scenario.
1. Did these kind of events have a designated survivor system like is currently in place in the US to secure succession in the event of a such a disaster, i.e. loss of the general secretary and all/most of the Politburo?
2. Is there a system similar to the Presidential locator system?
3. Where does nuclear release authority devolve do? Head of the strategic rocket forces? Local theater commanders?
4. Did the Perimetr system basically obviate the need for finding/stashing a successor for these possibilities, i.e. basically automating things in the event of loss of Soviet NCA?
It's hard for me to see how such a scenario doesn't end in a strategic level exchange secondary to command confusion and underlying paranoia that it represents the initial stages of a decapitation strike but I don't know enough about the Soviet system to know for sure.
I realize there may not be much information on these available due to its sensitive nature but any insight or additional reading would be much appreciated!