•Defense against atomic bombs seems to be impossible
–Viner acknowledges that “decentralization of industry
and deurbanization of
population” can reduce the military effectiveness
of atomic weapons
–This is an unwieldy procedure and carries tremendous
economic costs
–Because the article was written in 1951, it does not
account for the new
countermissile technologies. The
development of advanced
radars, anti-missile missiles, and kill vehicles is obviously not taken into account
•Nonetheless, many defense analysts assess the
effectiveness of a missile
defense system as extremely suspect, so Viner’s presumption that defense is impossible is still relevant