Friday, November 2, 2012

Making The Case For Keeping America's Nuclear Triad

Keep Triad 'Best Blend' Of ICBMs, Boomers, Bombers; 'We Can Afford Them' -- Maj. Gen. William Chambers, Aol Defense

One of the biggest debates in the defense world centers on the nuclear triad. Is it too expensive? Does it actually deter anyone? Is it a Cold War relic or a crucial tool for managing risk? Some experts have argued that land-based missiles just aren't needed. Others say nuclear-capable bombers are a big fat waste of money. A very few say boomers, as nuclear missile submarines are known, are just too expensive to invest in. None of this is being discussed very publicly so when the top general who oversees the Air Force weapons that deliver nuclear warheads, Maj. Gen. William Chambers, offered us an op-ed addressing the issue we jumped at the chance to run it. The Editor.


We have just marked 50 years since the Cuban Missile Crisis, two long weeks of terror embedded in the early years of the Cold War, itself an extended period of nuclear war angst.

For that fortnight in October 1962, when we and the Soviet Union teetered on the edge of destruction our nuclear forces played a central role in winning the peace.

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My Comment
: Here is my prediction .... if President Obama is re-elected this concept of maintaining a triad will be severely tested .... especially if U.S. - Russian nuclear talks on cutting nuclear forces proceeds as promised when President Obama last talked with Russian PM Medvedev.

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