Launch on warning (LOW) is a strategy of using nuclear weapons that gained recognition during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Launch on warning became an important part of mutually assured destruction (MAD) theory as a result of the invention of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). Under the LOW strategy, nuclear weapons are launched as retaliation upon receiving warning signs of an enemy nuclear attack, even while the incoming missiles are still in the air and before detonation occurs. U.S. land-based missiles can reportedly be launched
within five minutes of a presidential decision to do so, and submarine-based missiles can be launched within 15 minutes.
Navajo Nation
The Navajo Nation () is an American Indian territory covering about , such as parts of northeastern Arizona, southeastern Utah, and northwestern New Mexico in the United States.
This is the largest land area owned by an indigenous tribe in the United States, with a population of 173,667 as of 2010.
The current President of the Navajo Nation is Jonathan Nez since 2019.
President of the Navajo Nation
The President of the Navajo Nation is the head of government of the Navajo Nation. The office was created in 1991 following restructuring of the national government. The president and vice president are elected every four years, and can only serve two terms in office.
Code talker
A code talker was a person who was hired by the United States military during wartime to use a little-known language as a means of secret communication. The term is now usually known with United States service members during the world wars who used their knowledge of Native American languages.
About 400 to 500 Native Americans in the United States Marine Corps whose primary job was to transmit secret tactical messages.
The code talkers improved the speed of encryption and decryption of communications in front line operations during World War II.
Native soldiers developed two types of Native American Code Talking (NACT). First developed by Choctaw in World War I, Type one NACT contained coded vocabulary, collections of words or phrases that were assigned to military subjects, within their languages. Type two NACT simply used existing Native languages. Both forms worked as codes because they were based on languages unknown to the enemy and, as the new codes were not based on mathematical processes as found in most code and cipher systems, the enemy had nothing to which to compare them.
During World War II, Comanche soldiers created about 250 coded terms, while Navajo soldiers eventually developed more than 700 terms. Many terms were based on everyday things in the tribal communities such as animals, food, material items and descriptions. Examples of code terms include the Comanche terms for tank (“wakaree’e” or “turtle”) and telephone exchange (“puhihwi tekwapu kahni” or “metal talking house”); the Hopi terms for ship (“pa-a-ki-hu” or “houses on water”) and the M-1 rifle (mouth and one); and the Navajo term for grenade (“ni-ma-si” or “potatoes”). A 1941 edition of the journal “The Masterkey” reports that one of the tribes in the Chippewa and Oneida group developed terms based on the colors of military hat cords and other insignia, with the Native word for “blue” meaning infantry, “yellow” meaning cavalry and “red” for artillery. The Comanche even had a code name for Adolf Hitler—“Po’sa taiboo’” (Crazy White Man). Hopi, Meskwaki and Canadian Cree also had specially devised code terms, although the number is unknown.
Eight Hopi code talkers were in the 81st Division. Although Frank Chapella, Franklin Shupla and Warren Koopyaquaptewa were all from the village of Tewa, they were both Tewa and Hopi and so spoke both of these tribes’ languages. Frank Chapella’s wife, Elidia Chapella, and his son, Marshall Shupla, recall how these three individuals spoke to one another in Tewa (their matrilineal classification through their mothers) and in Hopi with the other five members of their unit.
Some Type one NACT groups like the Comanche and Navajo also developed alphabet systems, using the first letter of English words translated from Native words to spell out names of individuals and locations. For example, the translation of the Comanche words for pear, ant, rain, ice and snake could be combined to convey “Paris.” While the Comanche used an open system by using any word that translated to the desired letter, the Navajo developed a set vocabulary, such as “wol-la-chee” (ant) for the letter a, “shush” (bear) for b, “moasi” (cat) for c and so on. Later they developed three interchangeable words for each English letter. Both systems prevented repetition and inhibited breaking of the code.
One of the benefits of using these codes derived from Native language was open-air messages could be sent faster, often in one to two minutes compared to existing encryption methods requiring up to four hours to craft, communicate and decode. NACT messages were typically brief—usually less than three lines—to avoid creating radio congestion, drawing enemy attention, providing repetition or giving the enemy more transmissions to analyze. “Whenever we sent a message it was short, sweet and to the point,” Comanche code talker Roderick Red Elk noted.
Because of the speed of their communications, code talkers were especially important in relaying information and conveying orders that needed immediate implementation or response, such as troop movement, enemy resistance, evacuation of wounded and directing artillery, ammunition and other supplies. “It was in these defensive positions where you used it quite a bit,” Comanche code talker Forrest Kassanavoid said. “All critical information, something they felt was really top secret, was in Comanche.”
During 1943 and 1944, U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps representatives considered increasing their numbers of American Indian code talkers. However, Army and Navy leaders were skeptical the code talkers’ messages were secure and decided not to expand their units. The Marine Corps expressed optimism but kept silent about its growing program.
Despite these decisions, several Army and Army Air Forces units each had small groups of Native communicators. In the Pacific, seven Lakota soldiers in the 302nd Reconnaissance Troop became known as “MacArthur’s Boys,” while the 5th Bomb Command in the 5th Army Air Force had a radio net of 15 Native Americans who sent radio communications in Acoma-Laguna, Apache, Crow, Hopi, Lakota and other Native languages. In the Pacific, the Navajo, the largest group of code talkers, served in every major campaign, from the battle on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands from August 1942 to February 1943 to the conflicts on Okinawa, which lasted from April to June 1945.
Jonathan Nez
Jonathan Nez (born May 26, 1975) is the 9th and current president of the Navajo Nation. He was elected President of the Navajo Nation on November 6, 2018.
At 43 years of age, Nez is the youngest person to have ever been elected President of the Navajo Nation.
Tuba City, Arizona
Tuba City is an unincorporated town in Coconino County, Arizona, on Navajo lands, in the United States. It is the second-largest community in Coconino County. The population of the census-designated place (CDP) was 8,611 at the 2010 census. It is the Navajo Nation's largest community, slightly larger than Shiprock, New Mexico.
Joe Shirley Jr.
Joe Shirley Jr. (born December 4, 1947) is a Navajo politician. He is the only two-term President of the Navajo Nation. He was president from 2003 to 2011.
Chinle, Arizona
Chinle is a census-designated place (CDP) in Apache County, Arizona, United States.
The name in Navajo means "flowing out" and is a reference to the location where the water flows out of the Canyon de Chelly.
The population was 4,518 at the 2010 census.
Russell Begaye