I suspect this is the reason why they kept reporting there might be as many as 26 "pieces" surviving to impact the Earth. That allows for the majority of it to burn up upon re-entry, and for some larger, heavier parts to survive in a burned, inert manner.
Since this bad boy was launched, NASA has had to have re-entry policy and plans for ALL launched items... planning on how and where and when it will come down..and how to control it.

I suspect that at the end of it's usable life, NASA steered UARS into an orbit that would take in mainly over water, with the anticipation that a lot of it would burn up upon re-entry, and that which did not, might stream into the Pacific over a long track.

But you can't convince men that NORAD and the national defense system wasn't on alert with ICBM's at the ready, watching to see if this bad boy was going to take a dump on the lower 48 states. I can just imagine a few radar operators and a general staying at high alert for the last few days with a finger poised over the button.

If say, the bulk of it was headed for L.A. or NYC or Chicago, I suspect a little ICBM would have gone up to meet it...and been dismissed as "lightning" or "burned up upon re-entry" so that we'd never have learned what they had to do to protect us citizens.

I don't know about ICBM's but the airforce could've been scrambled for damn sure. A small IR-guided missile would be more effective against a fast moving bus than turning the oil tanker that is an ICBM.

Do you remember when they slingshot the saturn orbiter around earth 10+ years ago? The one loaded with 72 POUNDS of plutonium? THAT sure would've wrecked your whole week if it had 'splashed down'. Apparently the plan now it to crash land it on Saturn - We're littering across the solar system now! Way to go, human race!