President Lyndon B. Johnson listening to Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford. Secretary of State Dean Rusk sits to Johnson's left, with Senator Richard Russell (D-Ga) sitting further to the left. Secretary of State Dean Rusk sits to Johnson's right (second from left in the photo), with Senator Richard Russell (D-GA) sitting to Rusk’s right. The photograph was taken 14 October 1968, not long after Clifford had made the recommendations to update the "Furtherance" instructions.

Source: Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, on-line photograph collection.

Washington, D.C., December 12, 2012 – As late as 1968, the U.S. government had plans in place to fire an automatic "full nuclear response" against both the Soviet Union and China in the event of the death or disappearance of the President in the course of an attack against the United States, but President Lyndon Johnson changed that policy in October 1968, according to a previously Top Secret document published today for the first time by the National Security Archive. (see Document 5A)

Prior to President Johnson's decision, instructions for the emergency use of nuclear weapons that both he and his predecessors had previously approved stipulated a full-scale nuclear counter-attack even if the initial strike were conventional, or the result of an accident, and both Communist giants would be targeted regardless of whether either of them had launched the first strike.

This new information is contained in a record of a meeting between President Johnson and his top national security advisers on 14 October 1968. At the meeting, Johnson's military and civilian aides unanimously recommended that the standing orders, known by the code-name "Furtherance," be revised substantially in order to reduce the inherent risks involved. The changes included providing instructions to commanders to respond to a conventional attack with conventional weapons—an implicit "no-first use" nuclear policy. At the session, speaking of the new approach, National Security Advisor Walt Rostow advised Johnson: "We think it is an essential change. This was dangerous." The entire Joint Chiefs of Staff concurred.

The meeting record, marked "Eyes Only for the President," was released to the National Security Archive in late November 2012 under a Mandatory Declassification Review appeal to the Interagency Security Classification Appeals Panel (ISCAP), nine years after the filing of the original request. The declassified transcript offers important insights into the still-heavily shrouded subject of predelegation of nuclear weapons use. The meeting record is accompanied in today's posting by several related items that provide contemporary context to the subject matter.

U.S. planned all-out nuclear attack on China and

Soviet Union if President was killed during Cold

War - even if they weren't to blame

Classified plan, code-named 'Futherance,' allowed U.S. to use nuclear weapons on U.S.S.R. and China, even if they weren't responsible for attack

Furtherance could be invoked if the president was killed or went missing

Policy was dramatically changed on October 14, 1968

By BETH STEBNER

PUBLISHED: 05:26 GMT, 13 December 2012 | UPDATED: 13:44 GMT, 13 December 2012

The American government had elaborate plans set up for a ‘full nuclear response’ against China and the former Soviet Union in the height of the Cold War, it was revealed Wednesday.

A previously unreleased top-secret document shows that there was a full line of emergency nuclear weapons to be used if the president was killed, went missing, or if America came under siege. The blitz was to be carried out,

no questions asked，

even if an attack was unintentional.

However, President Lyndon B. Johnson changed the policy in October of 1968, as a means of reducing the insurmountable risks that came with full-blown nuclear warfare.

Drastic measures: President Lyndon B. Johnson, pictured with key advisers, in the Situation Room in 1967; newly-released documents reveal their dramatic nuclear plan

Ready for action: Prior to 1968, the U.S. could have launched a no-questions-asked attack; here, a communications worker at the systems counsel of the Automatic Digital Network

The documents were released for the first time by the National Security Archive, and show the drastic measures the United States was willing to take in the event of attack.

Advice: Johnson, who was president from 1963-1969, was told by advisers that 'Futherance' was highly dangerous

According to the once-classified documents, which were released from the National Security Archive of George Washington University, the pre-1968 U.S. had a simple plan if they were attacked – release a ‘full nuclear response.’

The document did not discriminate – the former U.S.S.R. and China were to be attacked instantaneously, regardless if an attack on their end was accidental or even their fault, according to The Nuclear Vault.

That meant that if the Soviet Union attacked the U.S., they were mandated to retaliate against not only the U.S.S.R., but China as well, with a full nuclear strike.

On October 14, 1968, Johnson and his cabinet discussed the idea of releasing nuclear weapons in the case that the president was killed or went missing, and was meant to be a last resort in preventing the breakdown of the chain of command, code-named ‘Futherance.’

The meeting took place during the last month of Johnson’s presidency, which the research institute notes is unusual, as it is unclear why LBJ waited so long to stop the dangerous operation.

Walt Whitman Rostow, a political theorist in on the meeting, called a change in Futherance ‘essential.’
He said: ‘This was dangerous. We recommend going forward.’

General Earle Wheeler chimed in: ‘All the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commanders have been consulted. We recommend approval.’

For Presidential eyes only: The document, dated October 14, 1968, dramatically changed 'Futherance'

Brave new world: A nuclear test explosion, 'Grable,' on 25 May 1953 in Nevada

The document, with an ‘Eyes Only for the President’ disclaimer, was released last month as part of a Mandatory Declassification Review appeal.

They were released nine years after the initial request.

President Obama in 2010 released his own nuclear strategy, saying that he was narrowing how the U.S. would use nuclear weapons.

He said in a statement that ‘outliers like Iran and North Korea’ and other countries that have violated nuclear sanctions would be exceptions to U.S.-borne nuclear attack.

The president also said: ‘We are going to want to make sure that we can continue to move towards less emphasis on nuclear weapons to make sure that our conventional weapons capability is an effective deterrent in all but the most extreme circumstances.’

上回書說到，1969年夏末秋初，尼克松總統對於蘇聯駐美大使多勃雷寧提

議美國在蘇聯即將發動對中國西昌、山西五寨、羅布泊等等核武器基地以

及北京、長春、鞍山、瀋陽等重工業基地城市核轟炸的突襲中保持中立的

探尋，採取的第三項措施，就是故意採用已被蘇方破譯的密碼，向美國軍

方下達擬對134個蘇聯軍事目標核打擊的總統令。而總統的核武器手提箱

的密碼，前些日子我們得知是簡單得想不到的 —— 00000000

300枚洲際彈道導彈陸續從發射井凌空而起，是怎樣壯觀的一種景象呢？