However, some anecdotal evidence suggests that top-level military leaders are able to increase the DEFCON level without the president - for instance, some sources report that the Strategic Air Command's decision to issue a DEFCON 2 during the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred without input from President Kennedy.
It is usually assumed that an upgrade in military preparedness is made by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (the highest commanders in the American military) with the approval of the president. The exact process that the military uses to declare a DEFCON increase is not perfectly-understood by the public. Understand how DEFCON levels are assigned. 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). 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 addition, all military communications may be encrypted based on classified protocols. At this level, American military forces are put on a heightened state of alert in anticipation of mobilization - in particular, the Air Force is kept ready to launch operations with just 15 minutes of notice. Situations that call for DEFCON 3 are serious - though they may not pose an immediate threat to the existence or stability of the American state, they do call for significant vigilance. at DEFCON 3 after 9-11.Use DEFCON 3 for tense military/political situations. The closest moment to nuclear war was in the tense days of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 when President Kennedy and Premier Khrushchev faced off over Cuba, President Nixon raised the status in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, and President George W. alert status i.e., DEFCON (Defense Readiness Condition), has been raised. actually believed nuclear weapons were to be used in a region or worldwide, it would raise its alert status, which, along with greatly alarming world leaders and the public, would change the movement and preparation of submarines and bombers. The Biden administration’s response to Putin’s nuclear saber rattling is to excoriate it as mostly “unprovoked escalation” and “manufactured threats” and state that America’s deterrent is always at a high alert level. Many European states are supplying lethal arms to Ukraine defenders, which is unnerving for an anxious autocrat who wants a quick win.
Now, however, Europe, the U.S., NATO and the numerous democratic states in the world are protesting the Ukraine invasion in real time. Hence, his actions in 2022 are not new or a surprise. In 2015, a year after Russia seized the Crimea, President Vladimir Putin announced in a television production celebrating the annexation that he was prepared to raise the alert status of his nuclear forces if there was a military reaction from the West.