Michael Stafford added that official assessments of the situation were that the chances of warhead theft are small, but that the US was slightly more worried about the possibility of the theft of fissile materials. Aleksey Ovcharenko noted that tactical nuclear weapons are stored rather than deployed in most cases. In storage, they are more closely safeguarded and less likely to be diverted. Roland Lajoie said that Russians had argued that by keeping those weapons that are deployed on their launchers, the possibility of diversion would also be lessened Aleksey Ovcharenko said that the tactical weapons which are the least likely for Russia to give up as well as the most likely to be deployed are those on submarines and surface ships. Eugene Miasnikov noted that there is a fundamental problem regarding tactical nuclear weapons that is not easily resolved.
Tactical weapons look different from the perspectives of scientists and military officers.
A scientist has the opportunity to look at the situation in general and can come to the conclusion that tactical nuclear weapons are dangerous because they could lead to the escalation of a conflict to the nuclear level. On the other hand, a military officer has a mission to complete. In the case of Admiral Ovcharenko, should a conflict arise, his task will be to defend the homeland against threats from the sea. He needs to consider worst case scenarios, and thus can come to the logical conclusion that it is impossible to accomplish his mission by only conventional means. Fetter proposed three possible levels of reductions on tactical nuclear weapons that could be pursued.