From: jdd@aiki.demon.co.uk (Jim Dixon)
Date: Wed, 10 Aug 94 10:44:01 PDT
To: ianf@simple.sydney.sgi.com
Subject: Re: The Terrorists are coming!
Message-ID: <4899@aiki.demon.co.uk>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


In message <9408031132.ZM695@simple.sydney.sgi.com> Ian Farquhar writes:
> Out of curiousity, is anyone aware of whether the USSR employed PAL's
> (Permissive Activation Links) in their strategic nuclear weaponary?  If so,
> is anyone aware of how secure the PAL's the Soviets actually used were?
> There was a rumor on USENET some time back that the Soviets were using RSA
> in their PAL's, but it sounded too much like an urban myth to me.

According to recent press reports in the UK, when Soviet bombers were
loaded with nuclear weapons, they were actually dummies (because the
generals, etc, didn't trust the crews).  This suggests that the Soviets
did not have reliable safeguards on the bombs.

Various arguments between the Ukraine and the USSR about ICBM warheads,
also reported in the press, suggest that the safeguards on the warheads
were reliable, because both parties seemed to agree that the Ukrainians
couldn't set them off, although they are otherwise technically competent
in dealing with the missiles.
--
Jim Dixon