(Air Force Times) Backtalk: Take nuclear missiles off ‘knee-jerk’ alert

[unhappycamper]

Take nuclear missiles off ‘knee-jerk’ alert
By Robert F. Dorr

The new Global Strike Command is a positive step, but a small one. The nation needs more than a reorganization of the Air Force’s atomic arsenal. The U.S. must reduce the alert status of its intercontinental ballistic missiles and the number of its nuclear warheads — which will require hard decisions by the government far above the service-branch level.

Maj. Gen. C. Donald Alston, the assistant chief of staff for strategic deterrence and nuclear integration, requested an interview after I urged de-alerting our ICBM force <“Changes to nuclear program lack substance,” Back Talk, Nov. 17>. The Air Staff office he leads was formed after mistakes with nuclear materials led to leadership changes in the Air Force last summer.

A survey in my community revealed that few citizens even knew the U.S. and Russia still have about 500 ICBMs, most equipped with three independent nuclear warheads, on hair-trigger alert at all times. Once launched, an ICBM cannot be recalled. While the U.S. has a limited missile defense program, there is no defense against an all-out ICBM attack.

Alston said he doesn’t like the term “hair-trigger.” Yet the truth would be better described by the even more pejorative “knee-jerk” alert: Our ICBMs stay in “launch-on-warning” mode, ready to be unleashed immediately once an attack is detected. We must ratchet down the level of alert so that thought and analysis will take place before an ICBM launch is authorized.

Alston said we need both the current alert status and the number of weapons in inventory today. “There are more nations with nuclear weapons today than during the Cold War,” he said. Alston said the Air Force’s job is not to use nuclear weapons but to deter attack on the U.S.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/community/opinion/airforce_backtalk_nukes_120808/%2e