> The end of the Soviet Union was not a threat to the U.S. But it was. When the Soviet Union was at the height of its power, all it wanted was to stay in power

> The end of the Soviet Union was not a threat to the U.S. But it was. When the Soviet Union was at the height of its power, all it wanted was to stay in power (the mandate of any empire). But when the Soviet Union ended, that was a time of maximum danger -- a rogue general, or a political radical, might take control of the state, and use doomsday weapons that the old guard was too wise to consider using. Believe me when I tell you, the Soviet Union under Brezhnev was quite stable, all appearances to the contrary, but a collapsing Soviet Union was extremely dangerous. And since the collapse of the SU, we've been doing all in our power to keep nuclear materials out of the black market, something that wasn't a possibility during the height of Soviet power. > thus predicting the exact date of its occurrence was not a priority. On the contrary, for reasons given above.