Deterrence as moral response

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amount of spontaneous crisis relocation would occur in the event of a threatened nuclear war. Any relocation plan would doubtless be better than general panic. A look at the realistic options for maintaining world stability tells us that truly defensive measures such as civil defense offer the best chance of buttressing deterrence without escalating the nuclear arms race. To say that developing such a system would be dangerously provocative is to ignore the extensive civil defense system which the Soviet Union already has, and is building upon, as well as the systems of several other countries throughout the world. It constitutes the ultimate in appeasement. The lack of an adequate civil defense for the citizens of the United States is disturbing. Not only are we threatened by potential all-out nuclear war, but there are other scenarios: the detonation of nuclear devices by terrorist groups or by countries other than the Soviet Union whose arsenals of nuclear weapons are small. Furthermore, in years to come, weapons technology may be capable of partially neutralizing a full-scale Soviet attack. It would be tragic to see millions of Americans suffer and die unnecessarily of radiation sickness.l-q