Word: arsenals
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...agree almost universally that all three legs of the Triad are essential because each by itself has weaknesses that are offset only by the strengths of the other two. Land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), for example, are the most accurate and powerful strategic weapons in the nation's arsenal, but the fixed underground silos in which they are stored also make them the most vulnerable. Airborne bombers, which can be recalled from attack up to the moment their nuclear payload is fired, provide a President with the most flexible strategic weapon currently available, but also the slowest. Submarine-based...
Though some strategists urge the U.S. to place more emphasis on its Trident fleet at the expense of both the land-based and airborne parts of its nuclear arsenal, no leading strategist would eliminate any one of the Triad's legs. "There are no practical alternatives," says Vice Admiral Ron Thunman, who heads the Navy's submarine program. Robert Komer, a former Pentagon official, says, "It's just the natural balance of power and threat...
...Minuteman arsenal is scheduled to be augmented or partly replaced, beginning in 1986, by a new generation of MX "Peacekeeper" missiles. Congress has so far funded 42 of the new missiles, each of which will carry ten warheads with at least 300 kilotons of explosive power apiece, compared with the Minuteman III's three warheads, each packing up to a 330-kiloton punch. Reagan would like to build 100 MX's, but critics say its many warheads make the MX an inviting target for Soviet strategists and thus a destabilizing weapon...
...affairs of other nations if it can be justified as opposition to Communist encroachment. Fear of pro-Soviet radicals is the basic reason Falwell would risk opprobrium to support South Africa's present regime. Unlike many other American religious groups, Fundamentalists typically favor an extensive U.S. nuclear arsenal...
...concluded that only 30 out of about 17,000 DOD computers are even minimally secure against intrusion by clever hackers. Though no one has ever been caught doing it, the mere thought of Soviet intelligence plugging into Defense Department computers, particularly the ones that command the American nuclear arsenal, is the stuff of Hollywood chillers...