How U.S. officials used real nuclear material, fake news to destroy Indy in a 1986 drill

Downtown Indianapolis is quiet.

The streets should be bustling with commuters driving into downtown to start the day. Instead, the streets are abandoned, "strangely still," as correspondent Ann Miller describes them.

Why? Because the city has been left in "ruins" by the detonation of the nuclear bomb.

Scared? Don't worry. It's not real.

This "footage" is from a fake news broadcast created by the U.S. government as part of a December 1986 nuclear simulation exercise called "Mighty Derringer."

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The fake mission, which was aimed to train the Department of Energy's Nuclear Emergency Support Team (NEST) in the event of a nuclear threat from the Cold War, simulated that Indianapolis experienced a "1 kiloton nuclear detonation that resulted in 'total devastation over a 20 square block area,'" according to the National Security Archive.

The video was obtained by tech website Gizmodo through a Freedom of Information Act request from the National Nuclear Security Administration, which operates under the DOE.

The Department of Energy did not respond to IndyStar's request for comment.

What we learned in the fake newscast

In this simulated news broadcast, fake Eyewitness News anchor Jeff Schwartz is ready to be the eyes and ears of the people.

He's wearing a suit and red tie, and has an authoritative mustache. Schwartz appears to be calm, but there's an air of foreboding.

Schwartz says it's the fourth day of an emergency in Indianapolis, but "few details are available."

"A large portion of downtown Indianapolis remains evacuated," Schwartz said. "Now, reports are sketchy at this point, but we do know that apparently there are terrorists holed up in the downtown part of our city with nuclear devices."

Schwartz then goes to the field, with correspondent Ann Miller reporting from "Chopper 9."

“We’ve just passed over the Speedway. We’re heading east towards downtown,” Miller, the correspondent, says as the helicopter shows stock footage of the city.

Miller comments on the quiet city shown below.

"Normally at this time of the morning, we'd see the beginnings of rush hour traffic," she said. "But this morning it seems strangely still."

“Is any traffic moving at all?” Schwartz asked, sounding concerned.

“Yes. ... There are police down there in the streets making sure everyone stays out of town,” Miller said.

Miller also says the police are "guarding" against something. It's difficult to hear, though, the wind from the helicopter obscures sound.

“Just how close can we get to where the terrorists have been holed up?” Schwartz asks Miller.

“The FBI and police have cordoned off the area and they’ve restricted airspace above it,” Miller responds. “We’re headed in that direction now. But we can only approach it-”

At this point, the video cuts off, leaving the screen filled with static and an unpleasant hum.

"We've obviously lost our microwave link with Chopper 9," he says. "Can someone get on the two way radio and see if they can contact Ann and see what's going on out there?"

In this moment, Schwartz turns back to the camera, speaking to the fictional people of Indianapolis.

"In the meantime, I'd like to caution our audience against over-concern," Schwartz says. In a cruel twist of irony, or cinematic drama, those words are his last. The broadcast cuts off and fades to black.

The 'Mighty Derringer' exercise

The video is just one part of the massive training exercise, which took place over a few days in early December 1986. The exercise was sponsored by the Pentagon and directed by the State Department, author and researcher Jeffrey T. Richelson wrote in his book, "Defusing Armageddon: Inside NEST, America's Secret Nuclear Bomb Squad."

According to a document obtained by Richelson via FOIA request, over 400 "players and controllers" from the FBI, Department of Energy, Department of Defense (and Explosive Ordinance Disposal), FEMA and state and local law enforcement officials participated in the drill.

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A document revealed that planning for the Mighty Derringer exercise took place in two locations: Indiana, based at Camp Atterbury and Indianapolis, and Area A-25 of the Energy Department's Nevada Test Site, which stood in as the fictional country of "Montrev," which Richelson wrote was supposed to represent Mexico.

Camp Atterbury did not immediately respond to IndyStar's request for comment.

The enemy was a terrorist group controlled by "Gooch" in Montrev that was threatening to detonate a nuclear device near an oil field in the fictional country. However, the exercise soon revealed that there was another bomb in the United States — in Indianapolis.

Real "nuclear sources" were actually hidden in parts of Indianapolis during "Mighty Derringer" so that forces would have something to look for, Richelson wrote in his book.

"One objective was to determine if NEST could deploy, get to a target city, do its search and detect hidden nuclear weapons," Richelson wrote.

Trainee forces were able to disable the fake bomb in Montrev but as part of the exercise, the second bomb detonated and devastated downtown Indianapolis.

A document summarizing the exercise reported that the simulated "bombing" killed 900 people and injured 1,000.

The document said Governor Robert D. Orr, who was really in office at the time, requested a major disaster declaration from the president. Congress passed millions of dollars in additional appropriations funding.

Originally, the Indianapolis bomb was to be successfully disarmed, but the exercise controllers decided to introduce "a new element," according to Richelson.

Zolin Burson, who was a liaison for the Federal Radiological Monitoring and Assessment Center, suggested the exercise needed more real-life participation from public officials.

"If the real Governor and Mayor would have been present, they would have had a much stronger influence on how things were handled and the decisions made, particularly during the time period before the consequence phase," Burson wrote.

Vic Berniklau, an engineer with the Atomic Energy Commission, wrote in a document analyzing the exercise that these issues included congestion of people, confusion and uncertainty, no central data acquisition display.

"Overall, this was an Excellent, well managed exercise," Berniklau said.

Contact IndyStar trending reporter Claire Rafford at crafford@gannett.com or on Twitter @clairerafford.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indianapolis history: This fake newscast shows Indianapolis destroyed