Defcon 1 Or Cocked Pistol Or White Alert Status Level

DEFCON 1, also called Cocked Pistol or white alert. Defcon 1 is a white colored alert status and is a maximum readiness condition level that was initially created in 1959 by the joint chiefs of staff. Cocked Pistol means that the United States is currently in a state of war, or that a nuclear threat is either in progress or imminent.

Cocked Pistol, or defcon 1 may be reached if United States intelligence detects an imminent or certain threat of either war or a nuclear launch from enemy forces.

The alert level color for Cocked Pistol is white. Neither the department of defense, nor the United States Armed Forces have ever raised the status condition to defcon 1 since the condition level was implemented.