Some say the US should take such steps unilaterally to induce a still-insecure Russia to follow. Within 30 minutes, the sides could plunge into a nuclear holocaust, exchanging the more than 5,000 warheads they still keep on 24-hour high alert. Difficult to implement While de-alerting sounds appealing, other experts say it would be hard to implement. Facing deep decay in its conventional forces as the NATO alliance expands into its backyard, Russia is becoming more reliant on nuclear weapons for its security. One of the factors we have to consider is that they may be very suspicious, not to say negative, about ideas that would make their nuclear forces slower to generate.
Congressional conservatives are dead set against de-alerting.
They say it would be difficult to verify Russian compliance with the combinations of measures proponents are advocating. For its part, the Clinton administration insists that Russian leaders are not losing their grip on their atomic armory. It also discounts as too difficult the sweeping de-alerting plans endorsed by former and current political and military leaders who have joined the global movement for total nuclear disarmament. But that does not mean it is ignoring the concept altogether. But the Russian parliament's foot-dragging forced them last year to push the deadline to 2007.