:51:02
I'm putting you on the intercom
soyou can be heard here and in Omaha.
:51:05
General Bogan has Mr. Knapp
ofAmalgamated Electronics...
:51:09
andCongressman Raskob withhim.
:51:11
They have my permission to listen in
and say anything theywant.
:51:15
Right, sir.
:51:19
Gentlemen, we've got four questions
to answer and not a lot oftime.
:51:24
First: What happened?
Second: What do we do about it?
:51:28
Third: What are the Russians
going to think about all this?
:51:30
And fourth:
What are they going to do about it?
:51:33
Please keep the discussion
to those points.
:51:36
Mechanical failure.
:51:39
- That's what happened.
- A double mechanical failure?
:51:42
- Doyou know the odds against that?
- Maybe someone went berserk.
:51:45
It doesn't matter.
Something failed: a man, a machine.
:51:49
It was bound to happen,
and it did.
:51:51
Maybe we'll never know why orwhat.
It doesn't matter now.
:51:56
- Mr. Secretary.
- Yes, GeneralBogan.
:51:58
Mr. Knapp here knows as much
about electronic gear as anyone.
:52:01
He'dlike tosaysomething.
:52:02
The more complex
an electronic system gets...
:52:06
the more accident-prone it is.
:52:08
-Soonerorlater, itbreaks down.
- What breaks down?
:52:10
A transistor blows.
A condenser burns out.
:52:14
Sometimes theyjustget tired,
likepeople.
:52:17
Mr. Knapp overlooks one factor.
:52:20
The machines are supervised
by humans.
:52:22
Even ifthe machine fails, the human
can always correct the mistake.
:52:27
I wish you were right.
:52:28
The fact is,
the machines work so fast...
:52:32
they are so intricate...
:52:34
the mistakes they make
are so subtle...
:52:37
that veryoften,
ahumanbeingjustcan'tknow...
:52:39
whetheramachineis lying
ortelling the truth.
:52:41
Maybe this time
there wasn't any failure.
:52:45
Maybe the Russians have masked
the real position ofGroup Six.
:52:49
Maybe Group Six is flying back
to the States this minute.
:52:52
Then what's on the board?
Northern lights?
:52:54
Maybe a group ofSoviet planes,
up there to convince us...
:52:57
we'veaccidentallylaunched
abombergroup.
:52:59
- Forwhat purpose?
- As an excuse to retaliate.