Need for ICBMs is a matter of debate (missle cuts = job cuts)

[The Straight Story]

Need for ICBMs is a matter of debate

By MARY CLARE JALONICK
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- High Plains lawmakers are wary of any reduction in the nuclear missile force that makes its home there, but some defense experts say the United States is right to continue drawing down the weapons.

"You have a lot of room for maneuvering here," said Michael O'Hanlon, a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. "The numbers we built up in the Cold War reflected the dynamic of the Cold War, and not any plausible military need."

The Pentagon on Friday announced that it would reduce the nuclear missile force - 500 intercontinental ballistic missiles scattered through Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota - by 10 percent. That could lead to the loss of hundreds of jobs wherever the missiles are cut, most likely in Montana.

Lawmakers that represent the states have argued that the missiles are needed, saying that nuclear threats still loom large around the world. But O'Hanlon and others argue that the United States is not losing any of its military clout by stepping back from the massive buildups that characterized the Cold war.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WY_NEED_FOR_ICBMS_MTOL-?SITE=MTHEL&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[kenny blankenship]

1. I guess Ford was in the wrong business. They should have built tanks

missiles and bombs instead of cars.