Nuclear historian. Professor at Stevens Institute of Technology. Visiting researcher at Nuclear Knowledges program, Sciences Po (Paris). Author of THE MOST AWFUL RESPONSIBILITY (2025). Creator of NUKEMAP. Blogging at https://doomsdaymachines.net.https://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mm2svenuzs2usorry, not sorry17 May 2026 16:48 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mm2svenuzs2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mlycb2rcps22If I am reading this right, the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff (JSTPS) of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which created the SIOP (the US nuclear war plan), had a responsibility to update the SIOP every 6 months. But that would end when/if the SIOP was itself executed — i.e., nuclear war broke out.16 May 2026 16:45 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlycb2rcps22https://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mlvpeyd2ic2eSo I started writing this week's DOOMSDAY MACHINES about stockpiling a million paper cups for nuclear war, but then a somewhat chilling photo sent me in a very different direction — Civil Defense in the land of Jim Crow. https://doomsdaymachines.net/p/paper-cups-and-a-confederate-flag15 May 2026 16:02 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlvpeyd2ic2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mlw7pzjzmk23 [contains quote post or other embedded content]15 May 2026 20:54 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlw7pzjzmk23https://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mlvpeyd2ic2eSo I started writing this week's DOOMSDAY MACHINES about stockpiling a million paper cups for nuclear war, but then a somewhat chilling photo sent me in a very different direction — Civil Defense in the land of Jim Crow. https://doomsdaymachines.net/p/paper-cups-and-a-confederate-flag15 May 2026 16:02 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlvpeyd2ic2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mlsuoolamk24I love imagining the mindset behind the people making the cover for this report from 1966 about Robert McNamara's views on nuclear war — somehow they landed on "make it look like a wedding invitation."14 May 2026 12:59 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlsuoolamk24https://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mlspt42ygk2sFascinating table from a US military study in 1965 making estimates of the effects of nuclear war a decade later, on the basis of assumed Soviet and US capabilities then, as well as defensive and Civil Defense capabilities. US fatalities range from 84% down to less than 10%.14 May 2026 11:32 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlspt42ygk2shttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mlobitf46c2oMy latest Bluesky book purchased was the audiobook version of @marthawells.com 's latest Murderbot novella (Platform Decay). Like all of the Murderbot books, it was very fun (and the audiobook narrator is very good), and the only point of criticism is that they always leave me wanting more... [contains quote post or other embedded content]12 May 2026 17:05 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlobitf46c2ohttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mle5e6qxuc2nFor DOOMSDAY MACHINES this week, I wrote up an excerpt from a once Top Secret transcript in which a US General described the vast casualties that would result from the US nuclear war plan, in the service of requesting over a 100,000 tactical nuclear weapons. https://doomsdaymachines.net/p/it-isnt-a-happy-picture-is-it08 May 2026 16:24 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mle5e6qxuc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mle5e6qxuc2nFor DOOMSDAY MACHINES this week, I wrote up an excerpt from a once Top Secret transcript in which a US General described the vast casualties that would result from the US nuclear war plan, in the service of requesting over a 100,000 tactical nuclear weapons. https://doomsdaymachines.net/p/it-isnt-a-happy-picture-is-it08 May 2026 16:24 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mle5e6qxuc2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mlb6cbkjac2a"Winslow, Arizona. On November 4, 1961, an AEC classified shipment [Mk-53 components] from Tonopah, Nevada to the Sandia Corporation, Albuquerque, New Mexico, caught fire one mile east of Winslow, Arizona.... There were no radiation or contamination problems. *Walter F. White*, ALO, responded."07 May 2026 12:03 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mlb6cbkjac2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3ml7mskd6xk2kabsolutely loving this DOS-based nuclear fallout visualizer from 199106 May 2026 21:17 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3ml7mskd6xk2khttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mkxocxyp622jan entry for a file I might title "no shit, sherlock": a graph expressing the radical idea that the further away from a nuclear explosion you are, the better your odds are for surviving it from a pub by the US Army Nuclear & Chemical Agency, 198003 May 2026 17:23 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkxocxyp622jhttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mkx7h4jrf22vI get that this poor guy is shielding his face but, man, does he look dejected to be in this situation [contains quote post or other embedded content]03 May 2026 12:57 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkx7h4jrf22vhttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mkx36nucok2aapparently the best way to take shelter from a nuclear bomb in a foxhole is not to just lay down on your side, but to tuck yourself up with your feet in the air, like a little overturned turtle I find this incredibly amusing03 May 2026 11:40 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkx36nucok2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mkugosfuz22vA rare sighting of the wild-type Parisian baguette in its native habitat. They have been largely displaced by their thinner, more-refined, domesticated cousins.02 May 2026 10:28 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkugosfuz22vhttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mkse7uu2tc2uFor DOOMSDAY MACHINES this week, I took a look at The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), which the much better-known film Godzilla (1954) took as its inspiration. It’s not a great film! But comparing the two directly brings out some core differences in approach. https://doomsdaymachines.net/p/it-came-from-the-deep01 May 2026 14:39 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkse7uu2tc2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mkse7uu2tc2uFor DOOMSDAY MACHINES this week, I took a look at The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), which the much better-known film Godzilla (1954) took as its inspiration. It’s not a great film! But comparing the two directly brings out some core differences in approach. https://doomsdaymachines.net/p/it-came-from-the-deep01 May 2026 14:39 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkse7uu2tc2uhttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mkqeraq3ek2eIt occurred to me that it would be rather trivial for me to re-render my data on Manhattan Project fissile material production as rates of production, which I had just not done in a consistent way for some reason. Well... here it is!30 Apr 2026 19:43 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkqeraq3ek2ehttps://bsky.app/profile/wellerstein.bsky.social/post/3mkllh6rdws2i [contains quote post or other embedded content]28 Apr 2026 22:00 +0000at://did:plc:d6lghffuwlinx22c2rtfbdwv/app.bsky.feed.post/3mkllh6rdws2i