If nuclear warfare were to breakout, which US city would be targeted first?
According to FEMA and the National Resources Defense Council, the US cities most likely to be targeted in a nuclear attack are purple triangles, black circles, and big cities [2]. Almost every state would suffer multiple devastating strikes, with only South Dakota and Idaho expected to be hit less than five times each [2].
Since the Cold War, the US and Russia have drawn up plans on how to best wage nuclear war against each other [1]. However, a smarter nuclear attack would focus on countering the enemy's nuclear forces [1]. As a result, large population centers with huge cultural impact may seem like obvious choices, but they are not the best targets for a nuclear attack [1, 2]. In fact, there isn't a single jurisdiction in America that has anything approaching an adequate plan to deal with a nuclear detonation [2]. Instead, Russian media claims that the Kremlin would nuke military centers including the Pentagon, Camp David, and a naval communications base located in Washington state [3].