Slashdot Mirror
How PALS Help Secure Nuclear Weapons
Hugh Pickens writes "The BBC reported last week that until 1998 no code or dual key system was required to arm British nuclear weapons. Bombs were armed by inserting a bicycle lock key (video) into the arming switch and turning it 90 degrees. Permissive Action Links (PALs) were introduced in the 1960s in America to prevent a mad General or pilot launching a nuclear war on their own and to control nuclear weapons that were at least partially controlled by other nations but as late as 1974, when an armed quarrel broke out between two members of NATO, Greece and Turkey, the Secretary of Defense learned that many tactical nukes were still not equipped with PALS. It has been reported that PALs have been installed on Pakistan's nuclear weapons to disarm or disable their triggering mechanism if the wrong code is entered or if the bomb is tampered with in any manner."
So, in other words, the British nukes could have been armed by anyone possessing a Bic pen.
You have clearly never watched Dr. Strangelove, Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. The movie should be required viewing as an artifact of cold-war culture; even if its lessons aren't directly relevant today (we longer live in a world defined by two nuclear powers in an eternal standoff with a hair trigger) it captures the absurdity of the era very well. Plus, as a pure comedy, the movie has aged well.
So does that mean the Pakistani nukes aren't secure even if they have PALs installed?
I really don't think the pakistani nukes are as much aimed at the US as they are against China / India. Lets face it, as mad as Bush might be, if you have a history of military conflict with a country next-doors and they are also building nukes, then that will probably be your main concern.
In terms of deterring capability having 50 nukes and 3000 nukes is really not that much of a difference IF you can deliver them reliably. This is where the superpowers differ from the smaller nuclear weapon states. The US have a number of nuclear subs giving a second-strike capability. A country like Pakistan is much more vulnerable to a sudden surprise attack, which could theoretically leave them unable to retaliate.
As a gamer, you are completely oblivious to your intrinsic disparity between what you think you understand, and how any complex system works. Do yourself a favor and RTFA! Then consider not playing video games for a year and focus on learning Ring algebra. Its the only cure.
One of my favorite quotes on the need to know... (also Bernards longest sentence :-)
Bernard: Apparently, the fact that you needed to know was not known at the time that the now known need to know was known, therefore those that needed to advise and inform the Home Secretary perhaps felt the information he needed as to whether to inform the highest authority of the known information was not yet known and therefore there was no authority for the authority to be informed because the need to know was not, at that time, known or needed.
Ian Ameline
One only has to look at the US in recent years to see that this, sadly, does not work. They invade foreign countries for their own power and profit, they force insane laws on other countries, and they are the only country ever to use nuclear weapons on civilian targets - and most of their citizens still somehow think that all this is a good idea.