Annie Jacobsen on Nuclear War, Intelligence Operations, and Conspiracy Realities

<p class="whitespace-normal">Annie Jacobsen has a favorite word for America's nuclear doctrine: madness. It's madness that any single person has six minutes to decide the fate of civilization, madness that we've built weapons capable of ending the world in 72 minutes, and madness that everything hangs by the thread of deterrence. But to Tyler, life is "a lot of different kinds of madness," and the real question is simply getting the least harmful form available to us. It's a conversation sparked by her latest book <em><span style= "mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-theme-font: major-fareast;"> Nuclear War: A Scenario</span></em>, which Tyler calls one of his favorites from last year—and which is compelling enough that Denis Villeneuve is turning it into a screenplay.</p> <p class="whitespace-normal">Tyler and Annie explore whether we should be more afraid of nuclear weapons or if fear itself raises the risks, who should advise presidents during the six-minute deci...