[munificent]

> Adding more safeguards could slow down the response in case of an actual attack and could do more harm than good.

Retaliating doesn't actually do any good. It increases the body count on the other side, but does nothing to help those in the US about to be atomized. It's not like the missiles will collide in mid-air.

What matters is the believed threat of retaliation because that may prevent an attack in the first place. The optimal system in terms of human life and safety is:

1. All foreign governments 100% believe that the US has complete capability to retaliate with devastating force at a moment's notice and will do so with zero hesitation.

2. But the US actually has no such capability so that an accidental first strike on a false alarm is impossible.

The tension between those two is the hard part. :)