Thrawn Rickle 42

SIS—Surreptitious Importation Strike

© 1993 Williscroft

Surreptitious Importation Strike: SIS.

It’s a word coined by Charles Harrison, writing in the Mensa Bulletin, and its implications are overwhelming.

In the United States, we have developed the Triad concept to protect our country—and the free world—from nuclear attack. Our defensive against nuclear attack consists of three fundamentally different systems.

We have a manned bomber force consisting of B-52s and B-1s. These aircraft have the obvious advantage of continuous control by humans. In an emergency the fleet can be launched and vectored by central command towards the enemy—all the while frantic negotiations attempt to prevent further escalation into full-blown nuclear war. At any time, the aircraft can be recalled, or ordered not to drop their lethal loads.

We have the land-based Minuteman and Midgetman missiles carrying one or more independently targeted warheads with enormous explosive power. These missiles are stored in ready-to-launch hardened silos that are capable of withstanding all but a direct nuclear hit. They can knock out any potential enemy’s ability to retaliate with missiles. In effect, they can pierce the enemy’s hardened targets. In principle, they are capable of withstanding an enemy first strike and will deal a devastating blow to his ability to follow through with further strikes.

The third Triad leg is our fleet of missile submarines. These subs carry either sixteen or twenty-four missiles with multiple independently targeted warheads. The nature of submarines makes it nearly impossible for a potential enemy to keep track of all our missile bearing submarines. We are, therefore, practically guaranteed to retain the ability to deliver any attacking enemy a killing blow, even after he launches a full-blown nuclear strike against our country.

This Triad assures us the ability to deter an enemy from striking in the first place, because he cannot survive such a strike.

At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work.

The key is that you must know where the strike originated—something quite easy to determine when the enemy uses missiles or aircraft.

Enter SIS—the surreptitious importation strike.

The SADM is military jargon for Special Atomic Demolition Munition. It is a fifty-eight pound “backpack nuke,” a one-quarter kilo-ton explosive about 250 times the explosive strength of the bomb that killed our Marines in Lebanon.

In the hands of American Special Operations commandos like the Army Rangers, Special Forces, Marine Recon, and Navy Seals, these little devices can be strategically emplaced behind enemy lines before actual conflict so that they become a major factor in the outcome of the eventual battle.

On the other hand, in the hands of Ismaili terrorists, Mafia thugs, enemy infiltrators, or even several disgruntled nuclear lab technicians, it is entirely possible to discover one day that major industrial and cultural centers throughout our country have been blanketed with these devices. They would be nearly impossible to locate, would remain potent for years, and can be activated by a simple coded radio command from almost anywhere.

“Star Wars,” represented by the Patriot missile, obviously works—against missiles. We have no effective defense against SIS.

Submariner, diver, scientist, author & adventurer. 22 mos underwater, a yr in the equatorial Pacific, 3 yrs in the Arctic, and a yr at the South Pole. BS Marine Physics & Meteorology, PhD in Engineering. Authors non-fiction, Cold War thrillers, and hard science fiction. Lives in Centennial, CO.