From: "Ian Farquhar" <ianf@simple.sydney.sgi.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 94 18:35:24 PDT
To: yusuf921@raven.csrv.uidaho.edu
Subject: Re: The Terrorists are coming!
In-Reply-To: <3294@aiki.demon.co.uk>
Message-ID: <9408031132.ZM695@simple.sydney.sgi.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Aug 1, 10:07pm, Jim Dixon wrote:
> A large part of the former USSR was Muslim and there were strategic and
> tactical nuclear weapons scattered all over the place (tactical weapons
> are used as mines, fired from artillery pieces, carried by short range
> missiles, and dropped from fighter bombers).  If none of these is
> unaccounted for, it is a genuine miracle.

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.

							Ian.