Before obtaining access to classified material, a US soldier is required to sign an agreement to safeguard that material for a specified length of time and to have any mention of that material reviewed by the Pentagon prior to any release by any means, such as a speech, press conference, or publication. This requirement remains in effect after a soldier is discharged from the service. 

 

The specified length of time in the document applying to service in West Germany was thirty years from the time of separation. That time restraint had come and gone, so submission of The Nuclear Zoo to the Pentagon should have been a formality. 

 

Sensitive material in the military is required to be reviewed by the Defense Office of Prepublication and Security Review (DOPSR). The Nuclear Zoo was no exception. However, the review took many more months than had been expected, and when the manuscript was returned, the author discovered seventy pages had been redacted from the story. After an extensive rewrite, the author resubmitted the draft. And waited. And waited. Months later, and after editing out an additional two pages, the Pentagon approved the story for publication.

 

DOPSR also requested the following statement be added to the manuscript. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defense or the US government.

 

The soldiers involved served in obscurity, protecting our nuclear arsenal and ever ready to thwart a terrorist attack or to deal with the threat of a Soviet invasion. Their story deserves to be heard, and the author hopes that you enjoy the novel with the understanding that it was not the original version he intended to relay to you.