The Year of Maximum Danger 1983: A Novel of the Cold War

by Ret.) Lt. Col. David M. Humpert (USAF

Overview

"You don't know how close war is."

Radomir Bogdanov, Deputy Director, Institute of the USA and Canada, 1983

"It was a matter of rather--I would say-greater danger than almost any other period in the Cold War, if only because the most-shall we say extreme-or hardline elements in the Soviet intelligence and military leadership might have at some point either misconstrued some developments in the West or chosen to act on the basis of evaluations that were greatly exaggerated. And that's why I think there was such great danger involved."

Dr. Raymond L. Garthof, specialist on arms control and intelligence

"in 1983, the Soviet military conducted its own exercise, Zapad [West] 83, which prepared (for the first time since the Second World War) for a situation where our armed forces obtained reliable data of an [an adversary's]
decision made by highest military and political leadership to launch a surprise attack, using all possible firepower (artillery, aviation, etc.) against us. In response, we conducted offensive operations to disrupt the enemy attack and defeat its troops. That is, a preemptive strike."

General Valentin Ivanovich Varennikov, Soviet Deputy Chief of the General Staff

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781957837994
Publisher:	David M. Humpert
Publication date:	08/24/2022
Pages:	452
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.91(d)

About the Author

Dave Humpert recently retired as the Political and Military Analyst for Russia at NORAD/USNORTHCOM, J2 Directorate in 2016, a position he has held for fifteen years, capping a long and storied career in and out of uniform. Mr. Humpert holds a B.A. in Russian Area Studies from Oregon State University (cum laude); and an M.A. in Russian Area Studies (summa cum laude) from the University of Washington. During his varied career as a Soviet/Russian military and political specialist, Dave relied on his extensive knowledge of Russian political and military history and its culture. His Russian language proficiency was invaluable as an interpreter, translator, and source-language analyst in a variety of challenging assignments for the U.S. Air Force and the intelligence community.
In 2002, Dave retired as a Lt. Colonel — after 30 years (both enlisted and commissioned) serving in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Air Force Reserve. Prior to his assignment at NORAD/USNORTHCOM, Lt. Col. Humpert taught Russian at the U.S. Air Force Academy. While at the Academy, Dave was deployed to Bosnia, where he coordinated reconnaissance and surveillance collection plans for SFOR. In 1991, then-Major Humpert was assigned to the Pentagon, Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he served as the Policy Analyst, Russia, and Transcaucasus. For the previous three years, Captain Humpert was assigned as an Air Liaison Officer at the U.S. Military Liaison Mission to the Commander-in-Chief, Western Group of Forces, Zossen-Wunsdorf, East Germany. He commanded nearly 300 operational missions into a hostile and potentially dangerous environment to observe first-hand the readiness and war-fighting capabilities of Soviet and East German forces in East Germany. Before Germany, Dave’s knowledge of the Russian language, history, and culture was instrumental in his selection as a Presidential Translator, Washington-Moscow Direct Communications Link (MOLINK) – better known as the Hotline. Finally, in his first assignment in Washington, D.C., Lt. Humpert served four years at Bolling Air Force Base, Air Force Intelligence Service, where he was in charge of translating and editing authoritative Soviet military literature for Russian linguists and analysts worldwide.