IP: HERE WE GO AGAIN -- THE ARMS RACE: HOW QUICKLY COULD THE US RESUME TESTING?: What's New for Jun 29, 2001

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> 4. THE ARMS RACE: HOW QUICKLY COULD THE US RESUME TESTING?  The
> Bush administration is questioning the nine-year moratorium on
> testing nuclear weapons.  Vice-President Cheney and Secretary of
> Defense Rumsfeld argue that the safety and potency of our arsenal
> can be assured only by periodic underground tests of randomly
> selected warheads.  That claim has been made for over 20 years,
> but rarely, if ever, has such a test actually been conducted, and
> no weapons have been retrofitted or taken out the arsenal as a
> result of a random test. Priority in weapons testing is given to
> the development of new weapons. Some weapons scientists in the US
> are arguing for micronukes, while the Russians are threatening to
> MIRV their missiles if we go ahead with a missile defense.



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