Joint Chiefs of Staff Readiness Test

The Joint Chiefs of Staff Readiness Test was a secret test and alert of U.S. military forces staged by the U.S. Department of Defense. It began on October 12, 1969, and consisted of a variety of military moves around the world, including activities by U.S. air and naval forces from the continental U.S. to the North Atlantic and from the Middle East to the Western Pacific.

The readiness test was carried out at the direction of President Richard Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger, but even the most senior U.S. military leaders were not informed of the purpose of the alert. According to the U.S. Department of State, there are two main "after-the-fact explanations". First, the readiness test was the culmination of months of White House efforts to apply the "Madman theory" and related threats of force to help end the Vietnam War; Nixon and Kissinger hoped that the implied threat of force would make the Soviet and North Vietnamese leadership more cooperative in the negotiation of a Vietnam War settlement. Second, President Nixon ordered the Readiness Test in order to deter a possible Soviet nuclear strike against the People's Republic of China; this second interpretation is consistent with U.S. intelligence reports which indicated that the Soviet leadership was considering a preemptive strike against Chinese nuclear facilities. Researchers have also called the second interpretation logically the most likely one.

The Readiness Test culminated in a "Giant Lance" airborne alert involving nuclear-armed B-52 flights over northern Alaska. While the Soviet government was aware of the U.S.'s secret military activities, Nixon's and Kissinger's efforts did not convince them or have any discernible impact on the peace negotiations with North Vietnam in Paris. On the other hand, the Soviet abandoned its attack against China in October 1969 and, instead, began to engage in negotiations over border issues with China.