I watched with great concern the “Who’s Minding the Nukes?” story on “60 Minutes” on April 27. I learned that we have 450 nuclear-armed missiles in underground silos around the country on hair-trigger alert. If any were ever fired by accident, there is no way we could recall or disarm them. There have been several near-miss accidents involving those missiles over the past few years, proving that there is no such thing as a perfectly safe system.

I also learned that the general in charge of a third of those missiles was recently relieved of his duties for dereliction of duty. Moreover, the morale of those watching over the security of those missiles is very poor. And no wonder, they are working with computers that are archaic in design, and using phones with which they have difficulty hearing the voice on the other end because they are so outdated. Replacement parts are no longer available for much of the equipment being used.

We should disarm these missiles as quickly as possible. They no longer serve to defend our country from attack. We have far better and more flexible nuclear armed missiles in service on submarines and long-range bombers. We should get rid of the archaic nuclear weapons in those silos. America would be far safer without them.

Cushman D. Anthony
Falmouth


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