Today, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists published my story by that title, in which I try to answer the question.
This piece took me from Montana missile fields to a Utah rocket-testing range to an underground launch control center — as well as into the lobbying records of major weapons makers.
Known as the ground-based strategic deterrent, or GBSD, the new weapon is a land-based nuclear missile designed to replace the Minuteman III. It will be lodged in fixed missile silos across five states.
Besides the cost—for $100 billion, we could get to Mars and back—the weapon is unpopular with voters. And, many military leaders consider it strategically dubious. In fact, the reasons for its existence have surprisingly little to do with national defense.
For more, please check out the story. Also consider following me on Instagram, where all this week I’m posting photos from my reporting trip last summer.
Elisabeth Eaves
While travel writing was my first literary love, I’m also a journalist, essayist, science writer, editor, and fiction writer. I was born and raised in Vancouver, lived in Cairo, London, and Paris, spent 10 years in New York City, and now reside in Seattle.