Floppy record . Cheating scheme . Drunken bar prank . The security of America ’s atomic blazon is … less than complete . And now , more critic are questioning the outdated policies that regulate them .
Lead figure of speech : inactivate missiles with their warheads removed in 1965 . AP Photo / Ellis Bosworth .
It ’s been almost 25 eld since the Cold War finish , but America ( and Russia)still keep thousands of atomic warhead on “ high alert,”meaning they can be set up within minutes if a missile launched by an enemy is detected using radar or artificial satellite systems . It ’s a policy that might not have attracted much attention , if it was n’t for General James E. Cartwright and the anti - atomic weapon organizationGlobal Zero .
Cartwright has been ramping up his call for a change to the insurance on both sides , witha New York Times op - edin April and aninterview with the AP this week . In the interview , he describe how the whisker - trigger system means nations can launch their missile as soon as a terror is find — which makes it far loose for a hacker to fake a threat and set off a revenge :
“ The sophistication of the cyberthreat has increase exponentially ” over the past times decade , he said Tuesday . “ It is sensible to believe that that scourge has stretch out itself ” into atomic command and control systems . “ Have they been interpenetrate ? I do n’t know . Is it reasonable technically to take on they could be ? Yes . ”
A launch dominance readiness near Minot , N.D. , where 10 nuclear - tipped Minuteman 3 missile are located . AP Photo / Charlie Riedel .
The fact that we ’re doing a direful job securing our nuclear armoury is not new . Researchers havebeensaying that very explicitly for years . Not only is the infrastructure aging , the education of the people who persist it have been disclose as inferior . The same goes for Russia — whichdoesn’t even have the right satellite infrastructure to find launch anymore . As Cartwright point out , the vulnerability of these age scheme is becoming a world - wide financial obligation .
alas , tensions between Russia and the US are only grow , so it does n’t seem likely that there ’s a clear solution to the problem at hired man . But whenJohn Olivershames you , you know it ’s time to make some changes . [ AP ]
HackingNuclear weaponsRussiaSecurity
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