I’m aware that if anything in this vein has actually been carried out its probably classified to crazy levels but a discussion in the ‘political gaffes’ thread had me wondering:
https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/printthread.php?t=859963&pp=50&page=2
Has there ever been a study of how national leaders of nuclear armed states would react under the immense time pressure of responding to an incoming nuclear strike? Its pretty much the most intense pressure scenario its possible to imagine, asking someone to make a decision in a matter of minutes that has the consequence of national survival or the deaths of hundreds-of-millions at stake.
We saw President George W. Bush’s reaction when informed of the 9/11 attacks, what if what was whispered in his ear was “Sir, we have a confirmed incoming nuclear ballistic missile strike, we need you to make a decision regarding our response right now”.
At least with the post V-Force British Prime Ministers they have their ‘Letters of Last Resort’ written ahead of time.
I know that command exercises running through a scenario of a build-up to war and nuclear response were fairly common during the Cold War era, what I’m wondering if there have been any publicly-acknowledged studies of the time-sensitive decision making regarding nuclear release or response of the top leadership itself.
Do not need answer fast.