Sixty feet beneath western Nebraska, Lt. Raj Bansal sits in front of an ancient-looking computer console used to monitor 10 nuclear missiles.Everything in this command bunker feels outdated, including the tiny toilet. It's working today, but like a lot of equipment down here, it doesn't always. Bansal points to a drain under the command post.
"At some point, sewage has flooded this bottom area," he says. "It smells awful."
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America should phase out its aging Minuteman III arsenal and silo basing system. America must develop missile delivery systems that take advantage of the latest technology, and establish a mix of mobile and silo basing. Basing a significant number of missiles in Washington State would accomplish two key things: missiles there could be easily targeted over the Arctic to maintain strategic deterrence in light of the growing Russian chill and their significant development of new warheads and missile delivery systems. The cold war never ended; it apparently just went into hibernation. Second, missiles based in Washington State could effectively target China without an over-the-Arctic (and across Russia) ballistic trajectory. Beijing is less than 6,000 miles direct from Olympia, Washington -- well within the range of even the old Minuteman III's.
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