This sounds surprisingly like a NOVA program that was on last week.
In the program, however, they suggested that the threat of an all out nuclear launch is much greater now than during the cold war because of the increased liklihood of something gong awry in Russia - either by mistake or intentionally.
You can see the transcript of the program here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcr...issileers.html