Dead Hand came about in the waning years of the Cold War; at the time, however, it felt like an escalation. After the Soviet Union fell, the world started to get confirmation that the USSR had in fact built Perimeter, or Dead Hand, back in 1985. It wasn’t dismantled after the Soviet Union collapsed, and over the years, Russian government officials have tacitly acknowledged its existence. A techno-optimist might argue that systems may currently exist, or could be developed, that are capable of neutralizing the lingering threat of Dead Hand. If Dead Hand is still primed and ready for retaliation, then have we really ever stepped back from the brink of Armageddon?