"All right, flush the bombers, get the subs in launch mode...
We are at DEFCON 1."
Hey there and welcome to I Am Your Target Demographic. Today we are talking about
DEFCON levels. This is something that you might see in the movies but it is based on a real
system. So today we're going to talk about the different levels, what they mean,
and maybe some examples of when we've been at that level. So let's dive in.
Let’s begin by clarifying what the term ‘DEFCON’ means. It’s a shorthand for the defense readiness
condition. It’s specifically for use by the United States military but I’d imagine that
most governments, at least large governments, have something similar. This is a sliding scale
that changes based on how likely we are to engage in largescale military operations, specifically
nuclear war. It’s a numbered scaling system from 5 to 1, but it’s a little counterintuitive to what
you might think. DEFCON 5 is actually the least severe, and it drops to DEFCON 1, the most severe.
These conditions are typically decided on by a group of individuals high in the military,
including the U.S. president and the Secretary of Defense. It can also be designated differently
in different geographic areas, so there’s not one condition for the entire world or country.
The world itself has only reached DEFCON 3,
never higher. There have been some individual DEFCON 2 ratings, which we’ll see in a second.
Let’s break down each condition.
DEFCON 5 is our normal readiness, without any immediate threats. This is the lowest that the
conditions go. This is pretty standard operating, response time is normal for any sort of threat.
Things escalate to DEFCON 4 when intelligence or information comes in that causes
a heightened threat. This means there’s likely a targeted watch on a certain
region. Things may be happening, they need to be actively watching a situation unfold.
And then we have DEFCON 3. This means the military may need to act, so specifically the
air force is ready to mobilize in 15 minutes and they retain this readiness during this condition.
For example, following the September 11th attacks,
the US increased the DEFCON level to 3, but lowered back to DEFCON 4 after
just a few days and it became clear there weren’t additional and immediate threats.
As of August 2022, would it surprise you to learn that the US is at a DEFCON 3 level right now? With
the war between Ukraine and Russia, there is a looming threat of nuclear attacks, so the United
States has elevated its status to DEFCON 3 to be ready within 15 minutes of any new action.
This level likely won’t drop back to 4 until the war ceases.
Beyond this level, we have DEFCON 2, which means that all military forces are ready
to deploy and engage the enemy within six hours notice. This means nuclear war is the next step
and armed forces need to be readily available to act. There’s only been a few instances of
this level, and they’ve all been confined to geographic areas. For example, the Cuban Missile
Crisis saw several military units escalate to DEFCON 2 as the threat of the Soviet Union
launching nuclear missiles from Cuba was nearly a reality. There was also a DEFCON 2 declared as
United States and 35 other countries waged war in Iraq during the Persian Gulf War, not sure if
the conflict would escalate to nuclear attacks in the immediate aftermath of their assault.
And luckily we’ve never reached DEFCON 1, which means that either nuclear attacks
have already been launched or that the war is imminent. This calls for immediate response,
all armed forces are in motion.
So hopefully you found that interesting. I know it's a little scary to think about but hopefully
found it interesting just what those levels mean and you know, when you hear it in a movie,
now you know. So thanks for watching. If you think of other topics that you want explained,
things that "hey an info video like this would be super useful." Let me know down in the comments
and subscribe, keep coming back. I've got 600 videos that you might enjoy. Thanks for watching!