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Missile Defense

Russian military leaders have expressed concern about US plans for a national missile defense system. Will defense technology be limited by possibilities for a strategic imbalance? Is this just SDI all over again?

gisterme - 01:40pm Jun 15, 2001 EST (#5196 of 5245)

"...Could the US be both as attractive as some people think, and yet still as ugly as some other people think?..."

Folk wisdom notes that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

The objective truth is usually found somewhere between the subjective extremes, isn't it, Robert?

rshowalter - 01:50pm Jun 15, 2001 EST (#5197 of 5245)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

Some other times, a particular system is beautiful in some ways, and ugly as hell in some other ways.

rshowalter - 01:51pm Jun 15, 2001 EST (#5198 of 5245)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I think it is reasonable to point out that my concern about nuclear risks is shared by others -- and for reasons that are public, but still shocking. The story of Bob Kerrey's Vietnam experience makes this piece more, rather than less credible in my view:

ARMED TO EXCESS by Bob Kerrey http://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/02/opinion/02KERR.html

Kerrey says:

" The risk of a nuclear attack still poses the greatest single threat to our survival."

. . . . .

" Part of the reason that Congress has not been pressing for steep reductions is that members of Congress have never seen the actual missile targeting plans developed by the military in response to presidential directives. For twelve years in the Senate — eight of which I served on the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence — I tried without success to get this briefing. In fact, I was unable to find a single member of the Senate who had been briefed. Mr. Bush should order his military commanders to brief members of Congress on the targeting plans.

" I have no doubt that President Bush would gain Republican and Democratic support if more were known about the details. A map of Russia that contained thousands of red circles each indicating a nuclear detonation would convincingly show the extent of the excess nuclear capability we have.

People who know the power of Senators should be impressed about how difficult it is in the United States to check anything about nuclear weapons. That, to me, is grave cause of concern, for a number of reasons, some psychological, some technical.

rshowalter - 01:53pm Jun 15, 2001 EST (#5199 of 5245)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I think anyone who sees or reads Rehearsing doomsday is likely to share my concern about system safety, in the new internet world.

. . . "Even with the end of the Cold War, U.S. missile silos are poised to launch" Here is a text adaptation of CNN's Special Report, " Rehearsing Doomsday ," which aired Sunday, October 15 at 10 p.m. EDT. http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2000/democracy/nuclear/stories/nukes/index.html

rshowalter - 01:54pm Jun 15, 2001 EST (#5200 of 5245)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

MD775 rshowalter 2/24/01 9:25am . . . presents a sermon that I feel the staffs of the leaders of two great nations, meeting together, might reasonably listen to today.

I think any military leader, or political leader, who ever attends any kind of religious service, anywhere in the world, could relate to this work. I believe the points it makes are particularly appropriate just here and just now -- because it really is common ground, throughout the culture of all major countries, that risks of nuclear accident are real.

People of more secular views might want to skip ahead to 9:27 in the sermon . Thereafter, it is a tribute to a Russian colonel, who kept nuclear war from destroying us all, during the Reagan administration.

WHEN THE FOUNDATIONS ARE SHAKING ..... by James Slatton . . . . available in RealMedia, Quicktime, and Windows Media7 formats http://www.wisc.edu/rshowalt/sermon.html

rshowalter - 01:55pm Jun 15, 2001 EST (#5201 of 5245)
Robert Showalter showalte@macc.wisc.edu

I'll keep working on more technical issues about nuclear instability . . . and will file them when I feel right doing so -- probably today.

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