A single VHS tape almost triggered a global nuclear war.

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]This was confirmed by the nuclear bunker beneath Offet Air Force Base in Nebraska, the Stratcom bunker. And not only were they intercontinental ballistic missiles flying at the United States, but they were sublaunched ballistic missiles coming at the United States. And it was a massive motherload of warheads. And Perry described to me as I recount in the book what that was like to try and process in your mind, oh my god, I'm going to have to tell the president and going to have to and he is going to have to make a counterattack.

[00:00:41]And within a matter of minutes, he got word that it was a mistake. And a mistake, you might ask, like a mistake?

[00:00:52]How does a mistake happen? What he told me was that it was a VHS tape, a simulated war game, a simulated attack by the Soviet Union against the United States. And the VHS tape had mistakenly been inserted into a machine in the nuclear bunker beneath the Pentagon. And because it is linked to Stratcom, it was seen in both places.

[00:01:19]And Perry said to me, "It looked real because it was meant to look