The Dead Hand: Reagan, Gorbachev and the Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race. [Hardcover]

The Dead Hand details secrets from the Soviet Union's military and research industries - secrets that are so dark as to reframe the historical interpretation of that country and its leadership during the Cold War.

The Soviets referred to a semi-automatic defense plan as the "Dead Hand." The Dead Hand was a system that would fire a portfolio of SS-18's on to the United States and Western Europe if its sensors made the conclusion that the Kremlin had been destroyed by a nuclear blast. The system was in place as early as the mid-80s. It is a bit of a miracle, given the demonstrated shortcomings of Soviet engineering, that it never made a mistake.

There's more to the spirit of the Dead Hand, though. Much of this book is about the extensive germ warfare research that the Soviets conducted in violation of international law. Hoffman has managed to track down the assorted scientists who worked in the Urals, in Kazakhstan, in Siberia, the Aral Sea, and other places. Each one has a small part to play in a dark effort. The Soviets weaponized all kinds of killer bugs - plague, smallpox, anthrax, tularemia, and others. The Soviets created anti-biotic resistant strains of each. Some were hybrid bugs that would kill in two stages over several weeks.

In the last days of the Soviet Unions, leaders like Sam Nunn and Les Aspin worked to identify and eliminate nuclear stockpiles. Unfortunately, not as much effort went in to finding chemical weapons. Some were found, but the author believes that many stockpiles were either hidden or lost.

The takeaway, ultimately, is that the Dead Hand still exists, albeit in a new mode. There is no semi-automatic nuclear weapon program. Instead, there are the residual weapons (both chemical and nuclear) that have fallen into untraceable hands throughout the world. There appears to be evidence that some of those hands include the governments of Iran and North Korea, but it is just as likely that many private groups are able to put their hands on the remainders of the Soviet arsenals.

This book contradicts some of the larger interpretations of Ronald Reagan's presidency. Reagan built up weapons stockpiles, building not just the Pershing IIs but also the drive to SDI. Many have taken those events to say that Reagan was hawkish, and that he strategically invested in defense in order to put economic pressure on the Soviet budgets. Hoffman doesn't deny that SDI did require additional spending, but his analysis is that Reagan was driven first by an absolute hatred of nuclear weaponry. He knew that their system was able to produce advanced weaponry but little grain. Hoffman portrays Reagan very favorably, even as he is less taken by Bush I.

This book covers a lot of ground, but the author's narrative is very readable. I think it adds something to the history of the Soviet Union.

The Cold War was mainly an ideological war.Threats of mutual destruction played a significant part during this conflict.Suffice it to mention the Berlin crises and the Cuban Missile Crisis,where humanity has almost annihiltated itself.Brinkmanship was the name of the game ,played in many instances by the Soviet empire.
"The Dead Hand" shows to what extent all of us were living in the most dangerous period of times during the second half of the twentieth century.Its focus is to show two important and cardinal points:to what extent missiles were to make sure nobody would be alive in case the conflict grew into a hot one.The second point emphasizes and demonstrates an angle which did not get much attention by Cold War historians:the threat of biological warfare.The combination of these two destructive forces would have made Hiroshima a child's play.
As Mr.Hoffman makes it clear in his riveting and breathtaking book,it would have been a matter of only some minutes when humanity could have destroyed itself.This is a story that includes presidents, advisors,soldiers,(evil)scientists,generals and spies
who were working for their respective peoples in order to gain the upper hand.
For the first time, we get an in-depth story about the Soviets' biological weapons program.The purpose of the Soviets was to create a genetically-engineered super-germ which would cause hundreds of millions of fatalities.He includes the story of some scientists who were working on this secret project day and night.
This is his best and most fascinating part of the story.He includes stories about some scientists who could not live with lies anymore, thus they defected to the West and told the whole story about how the Russians were trying to fool the world about their intentions on biowarfare.Included are special photos about those who took part in this evil plan.
There is a special chapter about "The Year of the Spy",i.e 1985, where spies from both sides traded secrets and betrayed each other.
Hoffman also describes in great detail the way Gorbachev and Reagan came both to the conclusion that spending billions upon billions of dollars on mass-destruction weapons was an act of stupidity, although it took the Soviets a lot of years to come to this conclusion.
I do not recall another book where the exchange of opinions and ideas between Gorbachev and Reagan is so detailed ,documented and well- analyzed.
Tens of personalities and scientists from both sides were interviewed for this book.It shows many new insights into Reagan,Gorbachev and their assistants.There is a special chapter about the way the Russians asked the Americans to assist them financially in order to destroy their weapons and nuclear bombs and warheads.Senator Sam Nunn did whatever he could in this respect in order to persuade the Congress to give 1 billion dollars for this purpose, but he did not have much success.
In the end, the collapse of the Soviet Union marked the end of failed ideology,"hypermilitarization and rigid central control.It left behind 6623 nuclear warheads,882 nuclear bombs on planes,15000 tactical nuclear warheads and at least 40000 tons of chemical weapons,including millions of shells filled with nerve gas so deadly that one drop could kill a human being,not to mention the fact that anthrax bacteria spores and other pathogens humanity has never heard of them before were left intact".
The fall of the Iron Curtain caused hundreds- perhaps thousands -of disgruntled scientists,soldiers and others in Russia to live without any clear purpose.What's more,they were very hungry and had barely the means to support their families.No wonder many opted for the West.No wonder the arsenal left behind can still fall in the wrong hands.
This is only a minuscule part of the menu of this fascinating and gripping book which should be mandatory reading for all Cold War enthusiasts, buffs and pros alike.As for the Dead Hand, you will have to read it by yourself to find out what the devil it means!

Most "Cold War" books fall into 1 of 2 categories... Wide scope poicy analysis or put-you-on-the scene field level narratives. There are few that find a readable method of blending the two. Hoffman does a fine job of doing just that. While the book is top heavy from the Reagan era on and generally skims over pre 1980 Cold War history it is, nonetheless, informative, upsetting and revealing. Get the highlighter out because there are many passages you will want to refer back to when discussing this subject in the future. It is one of the best histories of the Reagan-Gorbachov negotiations since Beschloss's "At the Highest Levels". If you are a foreign policy wonk purist you will probably find this book a bit thin. If you are an afficianado of field level tactics you may find this book a bit slow in areas. So be it..i.e., some people like Kolko's "Anatomy of a War" and some like Baker's "NAM". If, however, you like both of those books you'll probably love this one. A friend of mine, when seeing the dust cover of the book on my desk, mistook it for a fictional novel. I told him, "No, it isn't... but I sure wish it was!" as parts of Mr. Hoffman's work are very unsettling.