Nuke adviser warns of threat from Cold War’s leftovers

Wednesday, May 19, 2004 | 12:52 p.m.

Thomas C. Reed, an adviser on nuclear issues to Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, told a group at the Atomic Testing Museum Tuesday night that it is remarkable that the Cold War did not end in nuclear war.

Reed, former Air Force secretary, was in Las Vegas to talk about his book, "At the Abyss: An Insider's History of the Cold War." in which he spells out how close the U.S. came to the nuclear brink with the old Soviet Union through the last half of the 20th century.

"The Cold War was a fight to the death, fought with bayonets, napalm and high-tech weaponry of every sort -- save one," Reed said. "It was not fought with nuclear weapons."

When the United States and the former Soviet Union bristled with nuclear weapons, the threat of a nuclear explosion from "some terrible mistake, a terrorist statement or an act of war" troubled Reagan, Reed said.

Over a lunch of macaroni and cheese one day with Nancy Reagan, the president vowed "to lean on the Soviets until they went broke," Reed said.

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, there is "a distinct chance" of a nuclear event from radioactive materials sold on the black market, he said.

The United States has failed to help the Russians keep track of nuclear materials unguarded and unaccounted for in the old Soviet republics.

"There is a distinct chance of a nuclear event," Reed said. "I have a terrible feeling that a bunch of guys with petro dollars are looking for it, too."