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Do you sleep better at night?
From: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Fri, 8 Oct 1993 08:36:03 -0400
A "DEAD HAND" OPTION FOR RUSSIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS? An article published in The New York Times on 8 October, cites Bruce Blair, a nuclear weapons expert at the Brookings Institution as claiming that the Soviet Union developed a command and control system option that would allow nuclear weapons to be fired automatically under special circumstances. The system could be enabled by the Russian military or political leadership if it appeared that the leadership would not survive a nuclear strike. Normally the system is designed to maintain strict centralized control. Blair based his assertion on numerous interviews with Russian officers. Other Western and Russian media have warned that during the riots on 3 October the Russian Defense Ministry building was almost unguarded and could have been overrun by pro-parliament forces. Seizure of its nuclear weapons control center probably would not have given the rebels control over nuclear weapons, however, both because they would have lacked the knowledge to use the system, and because control could have been transferred to alternative command posts located outside of Moscow. John Lepingwell, RFE/RL, Inc.
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- Do you sleep better at night? David Farber (Oct 08)