A Suspect Commitment to Recycling

Under a proposed Pentagon program, Trident II missiles armed with conventional warheads would be available to accurately hit a terrorist target anywhere on the globe, in about an hour.

However, the idea of using a three-stage SLBM for anything but scrap metal is too much for some to process:

But the program has run into resistance from lawmakers concerned it could increase the risk of an accidental nuclear war. Under the Pentagon plan, both non-nuclear and nuclear-tipped variants of the Trident-2 missile would be loaded on the same submarines.

"There is great concern this could be destabilizing in terms of deterrence and nuclear policy," the newspaper quoted Senate Armed Services Committee member Jack Reed as saying.

"It would be hard to determine if a missile coming out a Trident submarine is conventional or nuclear," the Rhode Island Democrat said.

It wouldn’t be “hard to determine,” as Reed (2005 ADA rating: 100) knows, but impossible. Fortunately, the success of the program wouldn’t hinge on the rapid discrimination of Reed's impossible test, but on: 1.) quick notification of other nuclear powers (implementing telephone hotlines with all ICBM-armed countries would be desirable); and, 2.)whether other countries' command, control and communications could reliably get the message out in a compressed time frame.