Dear sirs,

I was pleased to see that the strong response that Gover and Huray's article received and especially happy that the Spectrum editorial staff decided to present it in the Forum of the May 03 issue. However, I see that there are still many unclear points in relation to the core issue, as well as the intentions of the two authors.

First of all, again, there is no mention to any address, occupation, credentials or fields of expertise of the two authors. I do not think it is appropriate to get involved to such an extensive presentation (covered in two issues) and yet remain virtually "anonymous" for a large portion of the readers who don't happen to know them.

Regarding their views and opinions, they still fail to address some core issues of the subject: U.S. involvement in military operations in the Middle-East over the last few decades trully undermine the deterrence ability of nuclear weaponry, however recent debates and public protests against these actions, even from within the U.S., clearly indicate that citizens throughout the world and in direct contrast with such decisions and in line with the spirit behind the NPT and other international treaties, although the two authors believe otherwise.

Technical issues regarding the use (and results) of the nuclear arsenal are kept aside once more. Political implications are still their main concern, although it is clear to everyone that UN resolutions should be above and beyond any individual country's benefits and goals.

According to many experts, commenting on North Korea's decision to pursue nuclear weapons developement during the last few years, it is the aggressiveness and perceived intentions of U.S. foreign policy that fuels such behaviour. As noted by a reader in one of the responses (Forum), U.S. currently has over 10,000 nuclear and fusion warheads of massive cummulative destructive power, it is actively involved in the developement of nuclear ("mini-nukes" / bunker-busters) and other kinds of weapons of mass destruction (21-May-2003 Congress approves R&D project for mini-nukes), and has clearly stated its intention to use them "if necessary". To the eyes of a neutral regime, the 40 or more thefts of nuclear material from Russia over the last 5 years poses a threat greately inferior to the (increasing) possibility of the first-use of nuclear weapons by U.S.

NPT was one of the things that kept peace alive since 1968 during the hard years of the Cold War. Let us hope that opinions like the ones of Gover and Huray receive little to no attention in the near future.

With regards,

Harris Georgiou
Informatics Systems Analyst

Original Article: "Unthinkable Weaponry", readers' comments and authors' response in Forum, IEEE Spectrum, May 2003, vol.40(5), pp.8-16. In response to: J.E. Gover, P.G. Huray, "Not So Unthinkable", IEEE Spectrum, March 2003, vol.40(3), pp.15-16.