The once unthinkable is now quite easy to imagine.
Older Americans sometimes recall the "duck and cover" instructions they received in grammar schools during the early days of the Cold War. The idea was that by diving under school desks and covering their heads kids might survive the blast of a nuclear attack.
Today we think of those drills as exercises in futility, if not absurdity, but they weren't without merit in the early days of the atomic bomb. Before the Soviet Union, and later China, developed the hydrogen bomb and amassed huge arsenals, it was conceivable that large numbers of people near an atomic bomb target would survive the initial blast, and the need to use aerial bursts to maximize destruction with limited kilotons meant there would be little lasting radiation. The survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, many who lived long and healthy lives, had proven that. People 10 miles away from urban and military target areas, particularly if they were sheltered, would be largely unscathed.
The horrific power of the hydrogen bomb and the advent of ballistic missiles changed all that. Blast magnitude increased exponentially, resulting in the potential for millions of tons of deadly irradiated debris to travel thousands of miles through the atmosphere. Chances of intercepting enemy bombers with fighter aircraft and Nike missiles were fairly good; chances of stopping an ICBM were nil with the technology of the time. Civil defense measures were quietly shelved, and the theory of mutual assured destruction became our only protection.
Today we face a new nuclear adversary, North Korea, and others, including Iran and terrorist organizations, are on the horizon. These enemies are dangerous, but they aren't threats on the scale of the Soviet Union. With limited arsenals, bomb power and delivery systems, homeland defense – including civil defense – is still possible.
The recent Hawaii nuclear attack false alarm debacle brought home the reality of the North Korea threat. It showed that even the meager measures the state had taken to alert the populace were badly flawed, and that had there been an actual attack residents of the state would have been milling about like frantic ants when it hit. There are no real refuges there or anywhere else in the US – except those set up for our precious political leaders.
Today the nuclear threats from North Korea and terrorist nuclear adversaries, like the one posed by the 1950s Soviet Union, can be defended. The first line should be a vigorous anti-missile program that shoots first and asks questions later; the second a real bomb shelter program designed to protect civilians and assure the survival of as many as possible. The third: our unequivocal promise of a devastating counter strike.
Martin Fey is a member of the Quiet Corner Tea Party Patriots.