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From: aglew@ccvaxa.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.legal
Subject: Re: Making War
Message-ID: <7700003@ccvaxa>
Date: Sun, 30-Mar-86 16:25:00 EST
Article-I.D.: ccvaxa.7700003
Posted: Sun Mar 30 16:25:00 1986
Date-Received: Wed, 2-Apr-86 00:44:51 EST
References: <1753@decwrl.DEC.COM>
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Nf-From: ccvaxa.UUCP!aglew    Mar 30 15:25:00 1986


>/* Written  1:17 pm  Mar 24, 1986 by foy@aero.ARPA in ccvaxa:net.legal */
>It is possible for a system to be set up that would allow Congress to 
>decide as fast as the President.
>
>Simply provide all Congresspeople and Senators with a black box, an inhibit
>switch, sum all of the Congress settings, if half are set on, and if half of
>the Senates are set on, the President would be allowed to fire nukes or 
>whatever. All of the Congress could have real time connections to whatever
>decision making info the President has.

`Simply'! How are the signals supposed to be relayed back to whatever does
the summing? Through a nationwide, secure, real-time communications system?
Wireless? My jaw drops - you might say it jams open.

Real-time connections to decision making info - and how do you make all of
Congress study that info? Not just the last few minutes, but all the previous
few weeks of reports on submarine movement, activity at missile silos,
troop deployment, etc. How many Congressmen would be willing to make such
a decision, without trying to make a few phone calls (to other Congressmen?
to the President? to the Minority leader? to the newspapers?) first?

This discussion is moving into the realm of net.arms-d

Andy "Krazy" Glew. Gould CSD-Urbana. 
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