Do you sleep better at night?

[David Farber <farber@central.cis.upenn.edu>]

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.