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New York Times
229 West 43d St.
New York, N.Y. 10036

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To the Editor:

William Shurcliff (letters Dec. 11) has apparently not thought through
his idea that SDI is vitiated by Soviet ability to smuggle nuclear
weapons into the U.S.  Indeed if the Soviet Union decided to smuggle
in one or a few nuclear weapons into the U.S. now and detonate them,
they would probably succeed.  However, suppose they want to rely on
this method to be able to devastate the U.S. at any time they choose.
If they decide they will smuggle the bombs at the time they decide
to attack, they risk the possibility that an international crisis will
cause the U.S. to suddenly close its coasts and borders and restrict
internal transportation.  If they decide to smuggle in some hundreds
of weapons in advance, they face the prospect of getting every one of the
weapons in without detection, say accidentally by police or customs
officials looking for drugs, maintaining them for tens of years, and
maintaining the communication system that allows them to be detonated
at will.  Hundreds of Soviet agents would have to spend their entire
careers in the U.S., and the defection of even one would create
a desperate crisis at a time not under the control of the Soviet Union.
Conversely, would Mr. Shurcliff recommend that the U.S. consider
basing its ability to retaliate after a Soviet attack on maintaining
for say twenty years hundreds of smuggled nuclear weapons in the
Soviet Union?

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Sincerely,


John McCarthy
Stanford, Calif., Dec 11, 1986

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