By Tribune-Review

Published: Monday, March 4, 2013, 9:00 p.m.
Updated: Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Bad nuke-cuts timing

The editorial “America's nuclear posture: Weaker under Obama” (Feb. 19 and TribLIVE.com) reported that “senior administration officials ... say America's already reduced arsenal can be cut further — by at least a third — without jeopardizing national security.” What rose-colored glasses are these folks looking through? Some relevant facts:

• Hackers operating out of China are infiltrating the Internet and routinely breaking into corporate networks.

• The Chinese are nearing completion of a huge aircraft carrier and have indicated they have plans for more.

• The North Koreans now have nuclear weapons.

It's not a Herculean step from hacking into a company to hacking into the U.S. electric grid, pipeline network, communications systems, intelligence agencies and military. Nor is it unreasonable to ask exactly what China plans to do with a fleet of aircraft carriers.

It's not unlikely that China, second in economic strength only to the U.S., is bankrolling the North Korean nuclear program and providing technical assistance.

If President Obama and his senior administration officials would take the time to “connect the dots,” they would easily conclude that China most likely plans to become “adventuresome” and that this is not a good time to reduce the U.S. nuclear arsenal.

Wayne E. Baughman

Salem

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