Study questions US defenses as Russia raises nuclear forces’ alert level

The United Nations is sounding the alarm over Russia raising the alert level for its nuclear forces after invading Ukraine. The U.S. has not announced changes in its nuclear weapons alert level.

“The prospect of nuclear conflict, once unthinkable, is now back within the realm of possibility,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters as he repeated his call for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

If Russian President Vladimir Putin is arming or otherwise raising the nuclear combat readiness of his bombers, or if he is ordering more ballistic missile submarines to sea, then the U.S. might feel compelled to respond in kind, said Hans Kristensen, a nuclear analyst at the Federation of American Scientists.

A study by the American Physical Society (APS) examining US missile defenses found that, despite billions of dollars and decades of research, no “system thus far developed has been shown to be effective against realistic ICBM threats” to the homeland. It’s a conclusion with which the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency begs to differ.