From: Anonymous
Date: Tue Sep 07 12:46:11 1999
Subject: No Subject
Message-ID: <d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e@NO-ID-FOUND.mhonarc.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


> Come to think of it, the PALs on US weapons are primarily
> electromechanical in nature. You get the EWO, you punch in the
> supplied code into the PAL, and off you go. I'm not sure that RSA
> would a whole lot of use as part of the PAL mechanism itself (except
> for signature verification, which is certainly important.)

Speculation on sci.crypt some time ago was that, for at least some
relatively recent model nukes, the code supplied to the PAL contained
encrypted timing information needed for the bomb to ignite.  If you
bypass the PAL, you don't provide the timing info, and the bomb
fizzles because of an asymmetric implosion..

But then, "those who know aren't telling, and those who are telling
don't know.."

						- Bill