Are there good "alternative uses" for ICBMs—or are the missile men just looking for something to do?

For a while, it looked as though the intercontinental ballistic missile—the 20^th century's most awesome emblem of bristle and power—was headed into history's dustbin along with other Cold War relics and detritus. But this week, Gen. Lance Lord, commander of U.S. Air Force Space Command, told the National Defense University Foundation that, to the contrary, the ICBM still has a bright and potent future.

As Walter Pincus reports in today's Washington Post, Gen. Lord is preparing "alternative uses" for the ICBMs—such as arming them with non-nuclear warheads that can attack underground bunkers or any other target with stunning swiftness.

"The demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War have actually increased the importance of our Minuteman III ICBM," Gen. Lord declared. And R&D programs for new intercontinental missiles and payloads—with names like Prompt Global Strike, Common Aero Vehicle, Joint Warfighting Space and Operationally Responsive Space—are, as he put it, "up and running."

What is going on here?

There are two ways to look at this development. First, from a conceptual standpoint, military strategists over the past two decades have written about extending the global reach of American armed power while reducing dependence on overseas bases. What could be a longer reach than firing weapons from U.S. territory with ballistic missiles that can reach their target—any target, anywhere—in a matter of minutes or, at most, an hour?

Second, from what some may deem a more cynical—or others a more pertinent—point of view, it may well be that the Air Force missile men are simply, desperately, looking for something to do.

America's ICBM force was once a vast and mighty enterprise—1,000 missiles, armed with over 2,000 nuclear warheads, buried in blast-hardened silos, and surrounded by security complexes and launch-control centers spread across 40,000 square miles of U.S. territory. Now the force has dwindled to 500 missiles, the Minuteman IIIs, each with three warheads (but being converted to carry a single, more powerful warhead). The 50 MX/Peacekeeper missiles, which dominated the U.S. strategic buildup of the 1980s—each of them carried 10 warheads, which could each unleash enough explosive power, with enough accuracy, to destroy Soviet missile silos—have been deemed obsolete, without controversy; only seven remain, and they'll be dismantled by September.

And yet, as Gen. Lord noted in his speech (for a transcript, click here), the Air Force employs "9,000 ICBM professionals"— 9,000!—to maintain a mere 500 missiles. He said, in a speech to the same organization last year, that these "dedicated ICBM professionals" (back then they numbered "over 10,000") are "super-busy" till 2009. They're replacing the Minuteman IIIs' guidance electronics, re-pouring the solid propellant in the rockets' first and second stages, re-manufacturing the third stages, and keeping all the hardware in such immaculate spit and polish that the missile units boast a 99.5 percent alert rate.

But, it's all too clear, these officers are looking for something to do. Back in the 1950s, when the nuclear arsenal consisted of bombers—men flying airplanes and training to drop H-bombs over the targets, manually—Gen. Curtis LeMay, the founder and leader of the Strategic Air Command, didn't much like the coming era of missiles. He worried that SAC would deteriorate from a fighting force into a mere maintenance crew—"the silent silo-sitters of the Sixties," he woefully predicted.

Now the silo-sitters aren't even perched on the edge of their seats. There's not the slightest chance of a Russian first strike—the nightmare scenario of the Cold War. In his speech this week, Gen. Lord talked about the "warrior ethos" that's vital to the Air Force missileers. He contended that the Minuteman III service-life extension program perpetuates this ethos. "There is no better skill to have as a Space Professional than a complete and comprehensive appreciation for nuclear operations. It teaches us all the meaning of 'bomb on target.' It gives us our 'Warrior Ethos' and it has been pivotal in transforming our command from a research and development background to an operational Major Command in our great Air Force."