North American Network Operators Group Date Prev | Date Next | Date Index | Thread Index | Author Index | Historical Re: Every incident is an opportunity
On Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:12:56 -0500 Barry Shein <[email protected]> wrote: > > Of course, but the point was the goal of that targetting. The US > public by and large believed, and seems to still believe (i.e., the TV > show Jericho) that the goal of a USSR attack was purely vindictive, > complete annhilation. Apparently Civil Defense leaned more towards > invasion as a goal. > > No doubt as weapons systems evolve how you achieve one goal or the > other evolves. > > Either goal leads to different targeting strategies, as possible. If > your goal is invasion then value preservation is important (factories, > bridges, civilian infrastructure, etc.) If anniliation is the goal > than it's of no importance, just bomb the densest population centers. > Some of the time, that was the goal... It's not that anyone wanted that; however, it was (a) achievable, and (b) it was part of the MAD -- mutual assured destruction -- deterrent strategy. One could argue that that part, at least, worked, though I would assert that that was at least partially by accident. --Steve Bellovin, http://www.cs.columbia.edu/~smb
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