Abstract

Buy the nukes

The U.S. is a nation uniquely protected from invasion by two oceanic moats. But it remains vulnerable to nuclear weapons. With the end of the cold war, they present a threat to the U.S. that is growing, not diminishing. The U.S. Department of Defense's budget, however, deals with the new threat almost as an afterthought. Instead, it seeks to fight wars in all parts of the globe and hold on to nuclear weapons of various sizes and shapes. In the wake of the World Trade Center and Oklahoma City bombings, it is no longer difficult to imagine a determined terrorist group getting its hands on a crude nuclear device. Under the START II treaty, now awaiting ratification in the U.S. and in Russia, the U.S. will reduce its strategic warheads from roughly 8,000 today to 3,500 by the year 2003.