3. The Role of Media in Covering Nuclear Weapons Accidents    
 Given the possible catastrophic consequences of such early
warning errors and potential catastrophic accidents, it is
reasonable to assume that such mishaps would have attracted
worldwide attention.  However, as with dozens of other
historical nuclear weapons accidents and errors, they were not
widely reported by the media, and went largely ignored by the
general public.            Ignoring these facts can be
dangerous.  One personal example began in a restaurant in Iowa
City, Iowa in 1975. I was having a conversation with a friend
concerning issues of nuclear weapons and the possibility that
they might be plagued with mechanical failures or computer
glitches.  A young fellow sitting next to us leaned over and
said, "Do you really want to know how those things work?" 
 I obviously asked him to join us.  He told us he had served
four years as a launch technician on one of the Titan missiles
deployed at an Air Force base near Tucson, Ariz