Defense Condition is a measure of the activation and readiness level of the United States armed forces. DEF CON is the acronym of "DEFense [Readiness] CONdition". These defense conditions describe progressive postures for use between the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the commanders of unified commands. DEFCONs are matched to the situations of military severity. The armed forces of the United States of America consist of the United States Army United States Navy United States Air Force United States Marine Corps United States Coast Guard Note: The United States Coast Guard has both military and law enforcement functions. ... Acronyms and initialisms are abbreviations formed from the initial letter or letters of words, such as NATO and XHTML, and are pronounced in a way that is distinct from the full pronunciation of what the letters stand for. ... Joint Chiefs of Staff symbol The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JSC) is a panel comprising the highest-ranking members of each major branch of the armed services in any particular country. ...

In a national emergency, seven different alert conditions (referred to as LERTCONs) can be issued. The seven LERTCONs are broken down into 5 Defense Conditions (referred to as DEFCONs) and two Emergency Conditions (referred to as EMERGCONs). An alert state is an indication of the state of readiness of the armed forces for military action or a State against terrorism. ... In U.S. military doctrine, LERTCON is an acronym standing for aLERT CONdition, and is a measure of the level of action and readiness to be taken in a given situation. ... EMERGCON (Emergency Condition) is a state of readiness that is separate from DEFCON, or defense readiness condition used by the United States. ...

Descriptions of DEFCONs

DEFCONs are phased increases in combat readiness. Expanded explanations follow below.

DEFCON 1 : Maximum force readiness.

DEFCON 2 : Increased force readiness (less than maximum).

DEFCON 3 : Increased force readiness.

DEFCON 4 : Peacetime; Increased intelligence; Strengthened security measures.

DEFCON 5 : Peacetime.

DEFCON 5 is the condition used to designate normal peacetime military readiness. An upgrade in military preparedness is typically made by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and announced by the United States Secretary of Defense. The level can be increased, respectively, to DEFCON 4, 3, 2, and 1. Joint Chiefs of Staff symbol The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JSC) is a panel comprising the highest-ranking members of each major branch of the armed services in any particular country. ... Jump to: navigation, search Seal of the United States Department of Defense The United States Secretary of Defense is the head of the United States Department of Defense, concerned with the armed services and The Secretary is appointed by the President with the approval of the Senate, and is a...

DEFCON 4 refers to normal, increased intelligence and the heightening of national security measures. Readiness remained at this level throughout most of the Cold War. Jump to: navigation, search For the generic term for a high-tension struggle between countries, see cold war (war). ...

DEFCON 3 refers to an increase in force readiness above normal. Radio callsigns used by American forces change to currently-classifed callsigns. United States military commands (minus the Strategic Air Command, at heightened alert on DEFCON 2) went to this level in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. All United States forces went on DEFCON 3 during the 1973 Yom Kippur War when Soviet nuclear warheads were discovered moving toward Egypt. The third time the United States reached DEFCON 3 was during the September 11, 2001 attacks. Call sign can refer to different types of call signs: Airline call sign Aviator call sign Cosmonaut call sign Radio and television call signs Tactical call sign, also known as a tactical designator See also: International Callsign Allocations, Maritime Mobile Service Identity This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid... Information regarding the film Strategic Air Command may be found under a separate article The Strategic Air Command or SAC was the branch of the United States Air Force in charge of Americas bomber-based and ballistic missile-based strategic nuclear arsenal, as well as the infrastructure necessary to... Jump to: navigation, search 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search The Cuban Missile Crisis was a tense confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States over the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1973 was a common year starting on Monday. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War (Hebrew: מלחמת יום הכיפורים; transliterated: Milkhemet Yom HaKipurim or מלחמת יום כיפור Milkhemet Yom Kipur; Arabic: حرب أكتوبر; transliterated: Harb October or حرب تشرين transliterated: Harb Tishrin), also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 (the day of Yom Kippur) to October... Soviet redirects here. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, in 1945 lifted nuclear fallout some 18 km (60,000 feet) above the epicenter. ... Jump to: navigation, search The September 11, 2001 attacks were a series of suicide attacks against the United States conducted on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. ...

DEFCON 2 refers to a further increase in force readiness just below maximum readiness. It has only been declared once; see below.

DEFCON 1 refers to maximum readiness. This has never been used but is reserved for imminent or ongoing attack on US military forces or US territory by a foreign military power.

Conditions

Different branches of the armed forces (e.g. army, navy, air force) and different bases or command groups can be activated at different defense conditions. For much of the Cold War, US ICBM sites were always at DEFCON 4 rather than 5. Jump to: navigation, search US Army Seal HHC, US Army Distinctive Unit Insignia The Army is the branch of the United States armed forces which has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... Jump to: navigation, search The United States Navy (USN) is the branch of the United States armed forces responsible for naval operations. ... Jump to: navigation, search The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aviation branch of the United States armed forces. ...

The highest alert condition the US military has been at was DEFCON 2. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, SAC was ordered to 2 and the rest of the US military to 3 on October 22, 1962. SAC remained at 2 until November 15. Higher alert conditions were also ordered during the Yom Kippur War (1973). Jump to: navigation, search October 22 is the 295th day of the year (296th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 70 days remaining. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1962 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War (Hebrew: מלחמת יום הכיפורים; transliterated: Milkhemet Yom HaKipurim or מלחמת יום כיפור Milkhemet Yom Kipur; Arabic: حرب أكتوبر; transliterated: Harb October or حرب تشرين transliterated: Harb Tishrin), also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 (the day of Yom Kippur) to October...

The DEFCON level is controlled primarily by the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and each DEFCON level defines specific security, activation and response scenarios for the troops in question. Jump to: navigation, search The President of the United States (often abbreviated POTUS) is the head of state of the United States. ...

Homeland Security

A matching code of five status levels, the Homeland Security Advisory System, is used by the Department of Homeland Security to indicate possible terrorist threats. Jump to: navigation, search In the United States, the Homeland Security Advisory System is a color-coded terrorism threat advisory scale. ... The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is a Cabinet department of the federal government of the United States that is concerned with protecting the American homeland and the safety of American citizens. ...

See also

• BIKINI states - Status codes used by British armed forces
• GandhiCon - a semi-parodical take on DefCon in the open source community.
• Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre - Determines terrorist threat level in the UK

The BIKINI state is an indication of an alert state as used by the British government, specifically the Ministry of Defence, to warn of non-specific forms of terrorist activity. ... GandhiCon is a concept in hacker culture. ... Open source refers to projects that are open to the public and which draw on other projects that are freely available to the general public. ... The Joint Terrorist Analysis Centre (JTAC) advises the United Kingdom government on terrorist threat levels and related security considerations. ...

External link

• DEFCON DEFense CONdition