WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Deploying new US intermediate-range or cruise missiles in Europe to deter Russia is technically ridiculous, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Emeritus Professor of Science, Technology and International Security and one of the world’s leading authorities on missile defense Theodore Postol told Sputnik.
“There is absolutely no military reason for injecting missiles into Europe,” Postol said on Friday. “That is militarily stupid.”
Any decision to deploy such weapons “could increase the chances of an unexpected accident or miscalculation that lead to nuclear war,” Postol warned.
However, Postol said such deployments were all entirely unnecessary.
“The United States already has nuclear capable Trident II ballistic missiles [on its nuclear-powered submarines] which are capable of destroying the hardest targets,” Postol explained. “The capability that the United States already had in the Trident II [missile] is unequivocally sufficient for any strategic purpose.”
Earlier in his career, Postol worked at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment to study methods of basing the MX strategic nuclear missile.
He later served as a scientific adviser to the US Chief of Naval Operations on strategic and tactical nuclear weapons systems and on missile defenses.
In 2001, Postol received the Norbert Wiener Award from Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility for uncovering numerous and important false claims about missile defenses.
