PALS in Pakistan Part Eight - The Rogue Threat
A rogue commander could clearly still use weapons that had been
disassembled, as they would be the ones required to re-assemble
them if they were ever used. While storing the parts at separate
sites would eliminate this risk, it is unlikely that Pakistan
has or will implement this control mechanism, as this would
severely restrict their ability to use the weapons quickly in a
crisis. With PALS installed, any local commanders would be
required to have codes from the national military establishment
and thus could not launch without certain and explicit
authorization. Other scenarios of stolen weapons are also more
protected with PALS than without. In a disassembled state, it is
possible that a terrorist group would be able to reassemble the
weapon. This is highly likely, in fact, given that any group
able to access Pakistan's weapons would probably have contacts
with scientists within Pakistan's nuclear complex and would thus
have access to the technical knowledge necessary to use the
weapons. Weapons protected by PALS would be disarmed remotely
when theft was discovered, and even qualified scientists are
unlikely to be able to bypass the PAL without triggering one of
the detonator charges that would render the bomb useless. In a
coup or government change scenario, disassembled weapons are
also still vulnerable, as the new government would control the
technicians who serviced the weapons and could easily make use
of them. With PALS, any Islamic fundamentalist government would
have to obtain the codes to gain access. This would give the
United States a sort of "last line of defense", where we would
be able to negotiate with the outgoing government to disable the
weapons or withhold the codes. At the very least, in any of
these scenarios the odds of avoiding a nuclear disaster are
better with the PALS than without them. The other aspect of the
assembly-status argument is the idea that the required
reassembly would cause India to lash out somehow in response to
the reassembly.