Former Defense Secretaries Harold Brown and James Schlesinger say the “increasing likelihood” that a terrorist group will obtain nuclear weapons necessitates giving US Presidents the option of “prompt, precise, non-nuclear strikes.” In a Washington Post op-ed, the two elder statesmen make a cogent case for the Pentagon plan to employ a new type of conventional warhead on two of the Trident missiles on US submarines. They refute charges by Congressional critics who fear such a move would lead to the de-nuclearization of US subs or to inadvertent launch by less stringent conventional protocols or to Russia mistaking a launch as an attack. Read it here.
Brig. Gen. Clarence E. “Bud” Anderson, the last surviving triple ace from World War II, was honored one last time by the nation's top Airmen when he was buried here with full military honors March 30.