The Threat to America — from Our Own Nuclear Weapons

During the Cold War, atomic bombs fell out of the sky over North Carolina. A missile tipped with a hydrogen bomb blew up in Arkansas. Most Americans never knew about 700 "significant" incidents that could have produced historic catastrophes — here in the US. Investigative reporter Eric Schlosser spent five years searching declassified documents to discover how often dumb luck made the difference. We talk with him. How much safer are today's weapons' systems? What are the prospects for reducing nuclear arms?

Two men involved in the Damascus incident, Ronald Gray and Greg Devlin, were interviewed for "The Missileers." That story, produced by Eric Molinsky and Bob Carlson, is part of the program UnFictional, which is produced and broadcast here at KCRW in Santa Monica.