How does the U.S. prepare for nuclear threats?

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) – President Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia’s nuclear weapons are prepared for increased readiness to launch, heightening international tensions.

22News spoke with a Lt. Col. from Westover who explained that the U.S. has a similar readiness protocol. It’s called ‘DEFCON’ and it measures the threat level against the U.S. The crisis in Ukraine is being felt right here in Western Massachusetts, especially as tensions between the east and west grow. Russian President Vladimir Putin most recently put nuclear ‘deterrent forces’ on ‘high alert.’

“It’s such a huge scary war-related thing that is happening in a time when social medial is prevalent and there are live streams coming from over there, it makes it scarier,” said Samantha Harris-Fried of Shelburne Falls.

Experts say ‘nuclear deterrent’ means Russia’s nuclear weapons are prepared for an increased readiness to launch nuclear missiles. The U.S also uses a similar measure, called DEFCON to indicate the level of threats the US faces from other nations.

“DEFCON stands for ‘Defense Readiness Condition” and its a system of readiness for the entire US military, it was developed back in the late 50s and early 60s. It’s controlled by the joint chief of staff at the direction of the president of the United States and has levels one through five,” said Lt. Col. Rodney Furr of the U.S. Air Force Westford Air Base.

Lt. Col. Furr added that DEFCON uses five levels of readiness or states of alert for the U.S. military. It increases in severity from DEFCON 5, which is the least severe, to DEFCON 1 most severe, signaling the outbreak of nuclear warfare. However, for security reasons, officials never publicly state which DEFCON level the country is under.

“There are always contingency plans on the shelf for what happens for what we do if this happens, or what do we do if this happens, certainly always need to be in a state of readiness,” said Lt. Col. Furr.

President Biden in a press conference today said that Americans should not be worried about nuclear war.