> An ICBM will land about 30 minutes after it launches. At those kinds of timescales, every delay you put in somebody's path to issue the warning, even a few se

> An ICBM will land about 30 minutes after it launches. At those kinds of timescales, every delay you put in somebody's path to issue the warning, even a few seconds, is going to be a cost measured in lives. Actually, considering that timescale and all the variables involved in detection and tracking a few seconds is less than the margin of error for predicting the warhead's arrival. While the goal should obviously be to get a (valid) warning to the public as quickly as practical, the "every second counts" mantra in this situation is overly dramatic. In fact, I think it is even counterproductive because it can lead to a "better safe than sorry" attitude that triggers unnecessary false alarms. > How many people are you willing to kill to reduce the risk of a false alarm? Depends. How many people might die in a false alarm? How many people might die if they stop trusting the alert system and fail to properly react to a true alarm?