American cities burning and millions vaporized, instantly, with millions more soon to die in agony from burns and radiation poisoning.
How it could happen in a matter of minutes is the subject of the new book Nuclear War: A Scenario, by Pulitzer-nominated investigative journalist Annie Jacobsen.
The chilling play-by-play is based on exclusive interviews with high-ranking military officials, political figures and leading experts including nuclear weapon designers.
It takes about 30 minutes for an ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) to travel from one side of the world - say Beijing, Moscow or North Korea - to another.
America, under the sole authority of one person, the president, would then launch a counter offensive. Chillingly, she says it would take just 72 minutes to wipe out five billion people if the worst comes to pass.
Jacobsen writes: 'A nuclear strike on the Pentagon is just the beginning of a scenario the finality of which will be the end of civilization as we know it.
'This is the reality of the world in which we all live. The nuclear war scenario proposed in this book could happen tomorrow. Or later today.'
She adds: 'On top of the initial flash of thermonuclear light, which is 180 million degrees, which catches everything on fire in a nine mile diameter radius; on top of the bulldozing effect of the wind and all the buildings coming down and more fires igniting on top of the radiation poisoning people to death in minutes and hours and days and weeks, if they happen to have survived, on top of all of that, each one of these fires creates a mega fire that is 100 or more square miles and so.'
The book includes interviews with former U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon E Panetta, and Robert Kehler, former United States Secretary of Defense, along with former senior commanders from United States nuclear forces.
This, according to them and others, is how it could happen:
3.03PM
In a field outside Pyongyang, a North Korean Hwasong-17 ICBM known as 'the Monster' launches from a 22-wheeled vehicle.
3.03PM, 6 seconds later
Defense Department satellites remain 'parked' over North Korea - and imagery is relayed to the National Military Command Center beneath the Pentagon.
It has been six seconds since the ICBM's launch.
3.03PM, 15 seconds after launch
At the Buckley Space Force Base, Colorado, fighter pilots run towards their jets waiting on the tarmac.
Satellite sensors are monitoring the ICBM as it travels through the air.
3.04PM
In the U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) Headquarters, a 916,000-square-foot complex of bunkers and command centers, leaders begin discussing launch plans - as the US policy is to 'launch on warning'.
3.04PM
At Peterson Space Force Base Colorado, the leadership begin the process to communicate with the President.
3.05PM
Inside the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon, leaders prepare their response, and prepare to contact the president.
3.06PM
The Secretary of Defense tells the President: North Korea has launched an attacking missile at the U.S. and the missile has been validated by NORAD and STRATCOM commanders.
3.10PM
At Fort Greely Alaska, Interceptor missiles are fired into space in a desperate attempt to stop the incoming ICBM from reaching its target. They fail as intercepting an ICBM is a hit-and-miss affair.
3.12 PM
At Clear Space Force Station in Alaska, radar stations get their first clear view of the incoming missile and confirm it is an ICBM targeted at Washington.
3.13PM
Inside the White House, the President is met by an aide with the 'nuclear football' - which contains the codes needed to authorize a retaliatory strike.
The president is shown a 'Decisions Handbook' with options for nuclear strikes, and makes the decision to order bombers to take off and move the U.S. military to DEFCON-1, the highest nuclear alert.
3.15PM
Andersen Air Force Base, Guam: B-2 bombers, each armed with sixteen nuclear weapons take off from the base.
3.17PM
The President is moved to a Sikorsky helicopter by members of the Counter Assault Team to keep him safe from the incoming nuclear attack.
3.20PM
A second submarine-launched missile is detected - a KN-23, a North Korean short-range ballistic missile, flying towards Southern California at six times the speed of sound.
3.22PM
At the Diablo Power Plant Nevada, the KN-23's nuclear warhead detonates on its target, creating a vast fireball and mushroom cloud, and triggering a nuclear core meltdown.
3.24PM
In the White House, the President orders a nuclear counter strike with 50 Minuteman III ICBMs and eight Trident submarine-launched weapons, totaling 82 warheads aimed at North Korea, targeting its leadership, war facilities and nuclear launch sites.
3.27PM
From missile facilities buried in the soil in Wyoming, 50 Minuteman nuclear missiles blast into the air from silos, aiming for North Korea.
3.36PM
The North Korean nuclear missile strikes the Pentagon, sending a fireball three miles into the air and killing more than a million people instantly, with many more soon to die.
3.37PM
In the Serpukhov-15 satellite control in Kaluga Oblast in Russia, the American ICBM launches are detected and relayed to military command.
America's ICBMs have to overfly Russian territory to target North Korea.
3.39PM
Nebraska, the STRATCOM commander leaves the facility to board the Doomsday Plane - officially known as the E-4B Nightwatch, a military Boeing 747 with command facilities on board.
This will enable U.S. commanders to keep issuing orders even if many bases and cities are destroyed.
Interesting, but not likely. If and when a nuclear exchange takes place with the United States involved, it will either be a first strike by NATO or a first strike by their adversary with not just one missile. When either comes to that decision, they know time is their worst enemy. They will launch from sea nearest to their adversary to eliminate the time factor. Eliminating command and control. By the time our current Puppet wakes up from his nap the whole event will be over.
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