#There were rockets periodically exploding over small town USA

[rotzaprachim]

I say this as someone who obviously opposes the Vietnam war, the war in Afghanistan, and the current war in I/p, but I think a lot of Americans including one I was just talking to haven’t got a lot of comprehension that it sure took the uS a lot longer than five months for public opinion to shift strongly away from supporting any of the above, but furthermore - we dont fucking KNOW what the us gov or us public would do or support if they had a hostage crisis with hundreds of us civilians being held by the viet cong or taliban or Sinaloa cartel for months on end, with significant evidence of that group committing sexual assault, within kilometers of where Americans lived. This is not an equivalent thing thing that has ever happened to the us and for the sake of world peace we can be glad it never has, but it’s truly beyond our comprehension what the US (or uk or Canada and such) might do

#A lot of people seem not to grasp that I has incredibly disproportionate power and security relative to p in this situation #But neither is in any way comparable to the middle class white American level of safety #(Relative. There are other issues like gun control etc etc) #But like. It’s apples to oranges you have no idea what the us gov would do if like. #There were rockets periodically exploding over small town USA #The upper middle class residents of dc all had safety rooms in ther apartments #You don’t. Know

[azuldemontana]

Dropping the Bomb - Assets analysis

Joe Richman hosted an incredibly interesting podcast called Human Error in Volatile Situations which I highly recommend you go and listen too. The podcast goes over two examples of (you guessed it) human error in situations where there is a high impact when things go wrong. You’ve probably been in less significant  situations like this before, where you all of sudden focus more and double check that you’ve typed the bank details in correctly, or you’ve got the right phone number before pressing dial,  or checking over your work before you click submit. Despite all these extra measures we all go to, we still some how stuff up. So what do we do when we have large amounts of humans working in extremely high impact environments, like a missile silo containing one of the largest nuclear missiles in the world.

If you didn’t listen to the podcast (then really you should go and listen to it) essentially, while working on one of the platforms very high up on the missile, a worker dropped a bolt, which miraculously fell in between the platform and the missile, hit the launch ring and smashed into the side of the missile puncturing a hole. This caused huge amounts of fuel to spew out at a very rapid rate. After a period of deliberation, everyone was evacuated, before a team of two was sent back in, to attempt to fix the issue. Shortly afterwards the fuel exploded, immediately killing one and sending ‘school bus sized’ boulders of concrete, as well as other debris,  flying all over the place. The us air-force later put the cause down to human error.

So lets get thinking, what are the assets involved in this operation. I think there is an interesting dynamic here, of course the main assets is the entire USA, its people, military reach and global power, that’s essentially the asset that this missile aims to protect and defend. All the other assets involved in this operation that are at risk, are directly at risk as a result of this single missile, which is an asset itself.

Assets

Below I’m going to list all of the assets involved, and then the threats that are associated with that particular asset.

The USA

USSR - At the time of the incident, and at the time the missile was made, the biggest threat to the USA was the USSR and their own missiles as this was the cold war period.

Terrorism - 9/11 hadn’t happened yet, so terrorism wasn’t exactly on everyone mind, but certainly this was a threat to the USA since we have seen now that when the US makes enemies, individuals and groups are often motivated to commit terrorist acts against the US.

Titan II Nuclear Missile

USSR - As Nuclear Missiles were the back bone of the US military, they are a natural target for Americas enemies.

Hackers - Anyone from Russian hackers to unpatriotic US citizens may be motivated to attempt to gain control of the missile.

Natural Disasters - Any small issue can cause catastrophe when dealing with nuclear missiles, natural disasters could have high impact negative results.

Human error - Ultimately the demise of the Titan II in question, so  obviously human error is a threat.

Surrounding areas 

The Titan II Missile - Now that the most destructive weapon in history (at the time) is present, all areas in the radius of the blast force are at risk as a result. 

Missile Silo - At such a high value facility there is sure to be highly classified information and technology that the military would definatly want to remain secure.

Espionage - Although espionage would normally be more of a threat to operational units, it isn’t beyond the realm of possibilities that the USSR would be interested in infuriating the silo facility in order to work out the security measures of the silo itself to compromise other silos or to obtain classified information.

Natural Disasters - Essentially the same as above. Although here a natural disaster would may damage a facility or comprise the security of the facility

Nuclear attack - It makes perfect sense to wipe out your enemies defenses, and hence an attack from the USSR aimed at Missile Silo’s themselves is incredibly likely in the event of a nuclear strike.

Employees

The Titan II Warhead itself - this is of course a huge threat to the lives of the employees at the silo.

The rocket fuel - A good portion of the podcast was spend discussing just how dangerous the fuel used was, in fact the employees were apparently far more worried about fuel of the rocket than the rocket itself as it was acid, toxic to breath and of course extremely flammable, to such an extent that even waving your arm through the liquid / gas could cause ignition. 

Nuclear attack - As above

Insider attack - Of course it is also possible that spies are able to get themselves employed at Missile Silos

can you see a pattern here? I’ve tried to arrange each item in such a way that demonstration how each asset places all the assets below at risk. The employees would not be at risk of a missile attack, and would not even at the silo, if the silo did not exist -> the missile silo is a high value asset and exists out of pure necessity due to the presents of the Titan II Missile, the Silo also has to protect the surrounding area from the Missile -> Finally, the missile only exists as a result of a war and the need to protect the United State of America.

Beyond that, the missile itself is a product of the nuclear escalation experienced during the cold war. America builds a missile leading Russia to do the same, it is a perpetual cycle. The missile is in a sense a product of other missiles just like itself.

Recommendations

So how do we protect our asset? Hmmmmmm.... Diplomacy, de-escalation treaties, and perhaps ending the war itself. But they’re all boring answers! We want missiles! <sigh> Ok here we go

As I established above, each assets is a risk to the following assets, so it makes sense for us to go in reverse order here

Employees

Separation between missile containment and employee areas.

Blast proof areas to protect from above a direct strike from above and a detonation from the Titan II itself.

Extensive safety equipment for when employees are outside the blast proof areas

Use solid fuels (Which they do now)

Extremely strict checklist style procedure

Limit all shifts to a maximum of 8 hours with at least 7 minutes of break per hour or 1 hour break per 8 hour shift

Avoid using younger inexperienced staff - always pear experienced staff with inexperienced staff.

Extensive background checks

Missile Silo

Multi layer authentication to gain access

Incredibly strong exterior protecting the silo from a direct attack

Keep it hidden and disguised, however do not depend on it being hidden, or even assume that anyone isn’t aware of its exact whereabouts

Surrounding area

Much the same as above

Missile silo needs to be strong enough to protect the nearby towns and natural environments from detonation

Security through obscurity protects helps here as well since if the enemy does not know there is a silo located in the area, a direct attack aimed at the silo is unlikely. As always - do not depend on this security measure

Titan II Nuclear Missile

Extremely strict and extensive authentication process required to gain access

Do not allow all employees to have access to the entire facility. Employees only have access to areas they need to have access to

Strict and regular maintenance and check ups to ensure the missile is secure and stable

Extensive motorization of all aspects of the missile, such as PSI of fuel tank, silo temperatures etc etc

Duel authentication required to actually arm and launch the missile limiting chance of espionage

The USA

Build more missiles than the USSR

Build even more when they also build more in retaliation

repeat 1 and 2 until you are secure