American Notes Armaments

After three American soldiers were killed when the rocket motor of a Pershing II missile caught fire in Germany last January, the Army launched an investigation into the cause. The review, however, disclosed a different kind of peril: the ill-concealed missiles were subject to terrorist attacks. With this in mind, the Army last month sent a letter to Congress stating that the highly accurate weapons were "extremely vulnerable," and requested $1.8 million to improve the security of the approximately 50 nuclear missiles that / the U.S. has already deployed in Germany.

At the moment, the report notes, some of the missiles can be easily seen through cyclone fencing, making them a magnet for antinuclear demonstrators and a target for terrorists. (The weapons' nuclear warheads are housed separately in concrete bunkers with special security precautions.) The Army wants the money for "metal and concrete fences, which are intended to shield the day-to-day activities of the Pershing unit from outside observation." The proposal is finding a receptive audience in Congress. "No problem at all," said Republican Senator Mack Mattingly of Georgia, chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on military construction. "In fact, it's not enough money. On an issue of this importance, we want more than the minimum."