The USS Maine, an Ohio-class submarine armed with long-range nuclear missiles.
“From an architecture standpoint, certainly we could support that policy decision. But I guess I'll defer to the policymakers on whether that is a position that the United States, this Administration, the national leadership would choose to take. Within the system itself, on the platform, there's absolutely no reason we couldn't support that type of a policy decision.”— Vice Admiral Terry Benedict, director of Navy Strategic System Programs, speaking Wednesday on whether the submarine fleet’s nuclear missiles can be taken off their current hair-trigger alert, as advocated in this report. Candidate Barack Obama said he would work with the Russians to de-alert nuclear weapons, but his 2010 Nuclear Posture Review opted to keep the nation’s nuclear weapons primed for attack.
