Posted on 03/18/2002 4:01:53 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
WASHINGTON - The military wants to develop nuclear bombs that could destroy - not just disturb - deeply buried and fortified underground targets, according to excerpts from a classified Pentagon report.
The report, called the Nuclear Posture Review and completed in January, said more than 10,000 underground military facilities exist in more than 70 countries.
About 1,400 of the underground facilities are considered specially important because they house weapons of mass destruction, ballistic missiles or top-level military command stations, the report said. "At present the United States lacks adequate means to deal with these strategic facilities," it said.
The U.S. military's only earth-penetrating nuclear weapon, known as the B61-Mod 11 gravity bomb, cannot penetrate many types of terrain in which hardened underground facilities are located, it said.
"Given these limitations, the targeting of a number of hardened, underground facilities is limited to an attack against surface features, which does not provide a high probability of defeat of these important targets," it said.
The extensive excerpts were posted Thursday by GlobalSecurity.org, an Internet site that specializes in military and intelligence topics. Portions were reported last weekend by the Los Angeles Times and New York Times.
On Wednesday, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld publicly lamented the disclosures and said the person who leaked the information had violated federal criminal law.
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, said in an interview Thursday that he saw no reason to believe that publication of the information would harm U.S. national security. He declined to say how he obtained the excerpts.
"The point is to let the voters and taxpayers read it for themselves," he said.
Last weekend's news reports about the Nuclear Posture Review emphasized that it names countries against which the United States might use nuclear weapons - including five non-nuclear states.
The report said the United States needs to develop nuclear weapons better suited for striking targets in countries that could be involved in "immediate, potential or unexpected contingencies." It said these are North Korea, Iraq, Iran, Syria and Libya.
"North Korea and Iraq in particular have been chronic military concerns," it said. "All sponsor or harbor terrorists, and all have active WMD (weapons of mass destruction) and missile programs."
Some or all of those five also have extensive underground military facilities.
A key theme in the report is that the United States needs to modernize its nuclear force and develop a more flexible array of weapons that can be used to deter attack by unpredictable countries like North Korea.
As part of that approach, the report stressed the need to develop nuclear weapons that are more effective against deeply buried targets. U.S. military officials have said for years they are greatly concerned about the vast number of tunnels and underground military facilities in North Korea.
The report proposed developing an earth-penetrating nuclear weapon with a much lower yield than would be required with a nuclear weapon designed to explode at the surface. "This lower yield would achieve the same damage while producing less fallout - by a factor of 10 to 20 - than would the much larger-yield surface burst," it said.
"For defeat of very deep or larger underground facilities, penetrating weapons with large yields would be needed to collapse the facility"
The report set a goal of fielding "a new level of capability" against these targets by 2012. It said the Defense and Energy departments will begin a joint effort in April to decide whether an existing 5,000-pound warhead would provide significantly more penetrating power than the current B61-Mod 11 nuclear warhead.
The report also said the Pentagon and Energy Department are working on "agent defeat weapons" - arms that could immobilize, neutralize or destroy chemical and biological weapons. Concepts under study include thermal, chemical, or radiological "neutralization" of chemical or biological materials in storage facilities; also being considered are bombs to immobilize the materials.
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, said in an interview Thursday that he saw no reason to believe that publication of the information would harm U.S. national security. He declined to say how he obtained the excerpts.
"The point is to let the voters and taxpayers read it for themselves," he said.***** [End Excerpt]
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No! The point is to weaken the United States! John Pike has no degree. He is a U.N. disarmament, LIBERAL think-tank Federation of American Scientist, Democrat propagandist talking head. He is an expert on smoozing the willing and/or stupid media.
Why does the media think John Pike is a "national security expert?"
They don't care as long as he spouts the party line.
Basically, they like him because he's articulate and gives good sound bites -- he has a lot of experience; Pike has never met a defense or weapons system that he approves of.
Funny now that every missile defense test in the last couple of years has been successful (including the one over the weekend) that we aren't getting Pike soundbites about "how stupid and wasteful and impossible" National Missile Defense is. His "expertise" has moved on to other topics, like nuclear proliferation.
Boy! Is that the truth. It's usually some quick blurb just to plug his web site.
Bump! Bump! BOOM!!
"The point is to let the voters and taxpayers read it for themselves," he said.
Um, Mr Pike...there are laws against this sort of thing, ya know. Now I know you liberals, due to the activities of the last administration, think you are somehow untouchable, but there happens to be a new sheriff in town. And laws will be enforced. So, Mr Pike, when the Feds come knocking on your door with an arrest warrant, don't say I did not warn you.
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