For more than a decade, the U.S. and the Soviet Union have maintained a nuclear balance of terror. Today the Russians possess approximately 400 intercontinental missiles, 125 submarine-launched missiles and 700 medium-range missiles targeted on Western Europe. The U.S. has 940 Minuteman ICBMs, which can take off in 32 seconds, 54 Titan II missiles, which carry considerably more megatonnage than the smaller Minuteman, and 608 sub-borne Polarises—1,602 birds in all. With additions already under way, the flock will soon total 1,720 and pack a combined wallop equal to 1.8 billion tons of TNT, more than half a ton for every...
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