Authors’ Notes
297 Words
Authors’ Notes
Although the Nevada Nuclear Test Site, the Device Assembly Facility, Nellis Air Force Range, Groom Lake, and other places in this novel actually exist, the authors have taken liberty in detailing the descriptions, not only to add to this story, but to prevent any unwarranted breaches of national security. No nuclear storage compound exists at Omega Mountain. The authors have never had actual access to the Device Assembly Facility or the supposed Groom Lake installation known as Area 51, and all characters and circumstances depicted herein are purely the product of the authors’ imaginations. All details involving security, nuclear weapons, and other devices can readily be found in declassified public sources.
All circumstances and characters in this novel are fictional. The views and opinions, expressed or implied, are solely those of the authors and are not meant to reflect the views of the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Nevada Test Site, the U.S. Air Force, the FBI, or the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
“Nuclear weapons and nuclear weapon systems require special consideration because of their policy implications and military importance, their destructive power, as well as the potential consequences of an accident or unauthorized act. Therefore, safety, security, control, and effectiveness of nuclear weapons are of paramount importance to the security of the United States.”
—from “Joint Policy Statement
on Nuclear Weapons Surety”
Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense
James D. Watkins, Secretary of Energy
June, 1991
“Seven hundred of the eight hundred pages of the START agreement deal with verification are a waste of money.”
—Vadim G. Osinin, staff expert,
Supreme Soviet Committee on Defense and Security.
“The person who survives the first year in [the nuclear test program] is probably going to be here for the rest of his career.”
—Robert W. Kuckuck,
Deputy Associate Director for Nuclear Testing,
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
- Writer
