“The FBI and police have blocked off the area, and they’ve barred the airspace above it,” the reporter adds from her news chopper on that fateful day in 1986. “We’re headed in that direction now. But, we can only…” As a nuclear explosion smashes across downtown Indianapolis, a white light engulfs the screen, distorting the broadcast.
Of course, this never happened. Instead, the fake news transmission detailing this fictitious nuclear terrorist strike was made as part of a federal interagency training exercise known as Mighty Derringer.
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“Until now, no one outside the government has seen this video,” Gizmodo reports. However, it was published for the first time on Wednesday thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request from Gizmodo.
Mighty Derringer was carried out in December 1986 and involved the Pentagon, CIA, FBI, Department of Energy, and Nuclear Emergency Search Team (NEST). Actual radioactive material was placed throughout Indianapolis as federal agents fought against the clock to prevent a staged strike by terrorist commander “Gooch” from the fake country of Montrev.
“Channel 9 Eyewitness News” anchor “Jeff Schwartz” is shown in the two-minute video reporting on “day four” of a confrontation with nuclear-armed terrorists in Indianapolis. According to Schwartz, the city’s downtown area has mainly been evacuated, and the number of residents has decreased.
“We just learned that a government reaction team has been dispatched to neutralise the threat,” he continues before cutting to reporter “Anne Miller.”
As a news chopper camera delivers overhead shots of downtown Indianapolis, Miller is heard speaking in a voiceover about traffic issues.
Following the explosion, the stream returns to Schwartz, who blames the interruption on a technical issue and warns viewers not to “over-concern.” A loud boom can be heard. “Oh my God,” Schwartz mutters. Then we lose sight of his personal broadcast, and the video ends.
If tensions between the US and Russia over the Ukraine conflict do not ease, this fictional event from 1986 may become too relevant for consolation. We must rely on Mighty Derringer’s teachings, given President Joe Biden’s recent comments on regime change in Russia and President Vladimir Putin’s empty threats to go nuclear.
