How To Understand The Defcon Scale 9 Steps With Pictures

Note that different branches of the military can be issued different DEFCON levels. For instance, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is generally considered one of the tensest moments in American military history, the Strategic Air Command went on DEFCON 2, while the rest of the military went on DEFCON 3. [2] X Research source

Note that DEFCON 5 isn’t necessarily a sign that the world is at peace — conflicts, even major ones, may be occurring around the world during a DEFCON 5. However, in this case, the military judges that these events pose no significant defense threats.

In the modern world, it is thought that DEFCON 4 is sometimes issued after minor to moderate terrorist attacks and politically-motivated killings, or after would-be plots are uncovered. Presumably, this is done in anticipation of further violence as an attempt to prepare for and prevent it.

Historically, DEFCON 3 has usually corresponded to situations in which military action against the US or one of its allies was a distinct possibility. For instance, during Operation Paul Bunyan, which resulted in a DEFCON 3, two American officers were killed by North Korean forces in the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). In this case, a DEFCON 3 was issued because of the possibility that any errors in the resulting standoff might trigger open war across the Korean border (a politically and militarily tense area then, as it is today). [3] X Research source

The most notable time that DEFCON 2 has ever been issued was during the Cuban Missile Crisis, although this declaration was limited to Strategic Air Command. It is though that this is the only time that a wide-scale DEFCON 2 alert has been issued, though, since DEFCON-related information is usually kept classified, it is not exactly certain how many times this level of readiness has been reached. [4] X Research source

Though, as noted above, DEFCON levels are usually kept classified until after the fact, it is thought that DEFCON 1 has never been issued for a branch of the US military before. Some limited, unverifiable evidence suggests that DEFCON 1 may have been triggered for certain military units during the first Gulf War. If these claims are true, however, they only applied to individual units and not to entire branches of the military.

Note again that the precise actions that the military takes at each DEFCON level are, for obvious reasons, kept secret. Thus, most of the information that the general public has on the DEFCON scale is based on old declassified documents or historical DEFCON “spikes” revealed to the public after the fact. Though some non-military, non-government sources may claim to know the current DEFCON level, there is no way to verify this. [6] X Research source

Defense Emergency: Made in the event of major hostile attacks against U. S. or allied forces overseas. Issued by unified commander or higher authority. [9] X Research source Air Defense Emergency: Made in the event of attacks against the US, Canada, or military installations in Greenland. Issued by the Commander in Chief of the North American Aerospace Defense Command. [10] X Research source Note that, by definition, all military forces go to DEFCON 1 in the event of an EMERGCON being issued.

For instance, the original DEFCON scale had “sub-categories” for several DEFCON levels: “Charlie” and “Delta” under DEFCON 4 and “Alpha” and “Bravo” for DEFCON 3. In addition, it had an “Emergency” level above DEFCON 1 that greatly resembled the EMERGCON scale described above.