In 1962, the United States conducted the largest and most rapid series of nuclear tests in its history.

Operation Dominic wasn’t a single detonation—it was a surge. Dozens of atmospheric and high-altitude explosions carried out in compressed succession, under mounting Cold War pressure and narrowing diplomatic timelines.

Publicly, it was about readiness.
Privately, it was about reassurance.

In this episode, we examine why Dominic accelerated when it did, what the tests revealed about the upper atmosphere and electromagnetic environment, and how the data forced a quiet shift in strategy. As radiation patterns lingered and systems reacted in unexpected ways, certainty began to erode.

Dominic didn’t end nuclear testing.
It changed how it would be done.

Because sometimes the most important turning points aren’t marked by a single blast— but by what follows the silence.