Breaching Fortress America

The United States of America is widely regarded as the most powerful nation in the world. We have the most powerful armies, longest ranged missiles and aircraft, and the most sophisticated weapons systems in the entire world. With these systems, Americans can feel safe and secure in their homes with the knowledge that no other nation on Earth has the power do successfully attack America.

But is this really true? Are we really safe behind the barrier of the oceans, or has “Fortress America” been compromised in the name of international politics? Are we truly safe behind our highly impressive array of weapons and our innumerable armies?

In Moscow on the date of May 26, 1972, United States President Richard Nixon and Soviet General Secretary L. I. Brezhnev signed the first SALT Treaty. The SALT, or Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, limited the number of strategic weapons each nation could maintain and all but eliminated the ability of each nation to build any sort of comprehensive missile defense. This treaty, followed shortly by the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and later the SALT II Treaty, established strict guidelines for both the Soviet Union and the United States in order to attempt to prevent nuclear Armageddon. While an excellent idea at the time, the provisions of this treaty have become outdated in the modern world. In an age where mutually assured destruction has become truly mad, the limitations placed on America by this treaty have developed into hindrances to national security rather than a plan for the road to peace.

In the world of today, almost every nation in the world possesses some form of ballistic missile. They range in power from the short-ranged, light Argentinean Alacran SRBM with a payload of a mere 400 kg, to the United States Military’s immense Minuteman III, a missile that can carry 3 independent nuclear-tipped warheads over 13,000 kilometers. Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, among other nations potentially hostile to the United States have missiles of varying ranges, firepower, and threat levels.

In today’s world, the Scud C is the most widely used ballistic missile and is thus easily acquirable by any nation or group who might desire one. It is feasible that al-Queda or a similar group who wishes to do the United States harm could acquire one or more of these weapons and fire them upon a city of the United States. Even a weapon as weak as an Alacran could be fired from a ship in the Pacific Ocean and could hypothetically bear a 400-kg weapon – some sort of chemical or nuclear device – to any city within 150 kilometers of the coast and impact with little or no warning before impact.