An Iowa View of the ICBM Hiccup

by Paul Deaton

“If,
instead of taking six minutes to make the decision whether to retaliate
against a state who launched a nuclear attack against the United States
or its allies, couldn't we take more time to think a bit?“

If fifty of the United States' nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles go off full alert for an hour, is that the end of the world as we know it? The answer is no.

Last Saturday, this happened at the F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, when a communications failure between the missiles and the people monitoring them broke down. No worries, there is a backup communications plan should the United States have gone to a higher state of alert during the hour or so the missile communications with the missileers was down. According to Air Force spokesperson Christy Nolta, “There was a temporary interruption and the missiles themselves were always protected by multiple, redundant, safety, security and command and control features. At no time was there any danger to the public.” According to Marc Ambinder of The Atlantic, officials throughout the military, including President Obama, were briefed on the matter.

In the post Cold War period, why do we continue to have our nuclear weapons in a state of high alert? There are many, including the author who believe the idea of keeping nuclear weapons delivery systems on high alert is ready for retirement. If, instead of taking six minutes to make the decision whether to retaliate against a state who launched a nuclear attack against the United States or its allies, couldn't we take more time to think a bit? Why not take ten, or thirty minutes, or even a couple of hours before deciding to potentially end life as we know it? The United States continues to have the dominant conventional military force among nations, capable of bombing, with overwhelming force and great accuracy, anyplace on the surface of the planet. Do we even need to have nuclear weapons in our arsenal?

Opponents of nuclear disarmament were quick to pile on after the hour long lapse. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) was quick to speak out for modernization of the nuclear complex after the incident. It is ironic that while the New START Treaty proposes reductions in the strategic nuclear weapons inventory, Senate Republicans, like Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) have used the treaty as an opportunity to build up United States nuclear weapons capability.

Some say the incident last Saturday is cause to stop the advancement of the New START Treaty. The truth is that opponents have been looking for any excuse to avoid ratification because of the growing consensus of almost everyone, except John Bolton, Phyllis Schlafly and Mitt Romney, is that the modest treaty would be good for United States national security and should be ratified.

As long as we brought the subject up, please contact Senator Grassley, who remains undecided on New START, and let him know that Iowans support ratification. Click here to contact Senator Grassley.

~Paul Deaton is a
native Iowan living in rural Johnson County and weekend editor of
Blog for Iowa. E-mail
Paul Deaton

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