THE MOMENTUM OF THE UNTHINKABLE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706950052-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 13, 2012
• Sequence Number: 52
• Publication Date: June 14, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706950052-1
ART I CIAS
ON PAGE_Er_
WASHINGTON POST
14 June 1985
JACK ANDERSON and DALE VAN ATTA
The Momentum of the Unthinkable
In the 40 years since the first atomic bomb
exploded in the New Mexico desert, the world
has rushed headlong down the path of nuclear
proliferation. So far, the possession of nuclear
weapons by five major powers has acted as a
successful deterrent.
But the possibility is growing that the nuclear
arsenal is getting out of control. Familiarity seems
to have bred contempt for the consequences of a
nuclear exchange; officials in Washington, and
presumably in the other nuclear-power capitals, are
thinking what was once called the unthinkable.
Consider the testimony of a top Strategic Air
Command general at a closed session of the Senate
Armed Services Committee. According to the
transcript, classified "secret," he made the
obligatory bow to "the complex interaction of many
elements" that add up to deterrence, but then said
ominously:
"However, should deterrence fail between
strategic nuclear powers, all but one of these
factors become irrelevant, and we must then look
to the ultimate measure of merit: raw military
power."
The general then proceeded, through 41 pages
of testimony, to plead the case for deploying
hundreds and even thousands more nuclear
warheads in this country and abroad. .
We doubt that even the experts of the Strategic
Air Command, let alone President Reagan and his
advisers, have a clear idea of just how extensive the
world's nuclear arsenal has become. A fresh picture
is presented in a new book, "Nuclear Battlefields:
Global Links in the Arms Race" by William Arkin
and Richard Fieldhouse. The book is sure to create
an uproar in Congress and the Pentagon, and will
probably touch off antinuclear demonstrations and
an FBI investigation. But the furor should not
obscure the serious purpose of the book: to give the
public enough facts for an informed debate.
With a minimum of rhetoric and a maximum of
mind-numbing facts and figures, the book sets out
to list every nuclear warhead and every facility
related to the production and deployment of nuclear
weapons. Though the amount of classified
information on Soviet nukes is impressive, the
authors can be faulted for inadequate treatment of
other Soviet areas, such as civil defense. Nor is
there any mention of Israel's nuclear arsenal. ?
The greatest shock for most Americans will be
the discovery that there are nuclear warheads ?
practically in their backyard. Only 22 states and the
District of Columbia .have no nuclear warheads
within their borders.
The authors have prepared a chart that ranks the
states by the number of warheads and also by
nuclear facilities.
South Carolina heads the list, with 1,962
warheads. The Navy weapons station at Charleston
stores 1,482 warheads.
No. 2 is New York, with 1,900 warheads, most of
them at the Seneca Army Depot in the Finger
Lakes region.
The rest of the Top 10 and the number of
nuclear warheads in each are North Dakota
(1,510), California (1,437), Washington state
(1,172), Michigan and Texas (630 each), Virginia
(542), Louisiana (530) and Arkansas (430).
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/11/13: CIA-RDP90-00965R000706950052-1