The Case for U.S. Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century

The Case for U.S. Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century PDF Author: Brad Roberts
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804797153
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
“An excellent contribution to the debate on the future role of nuclear weapons and nuclear deterrence in American foreign policy.” ―Contemporary Security Policy This book is a counter to the conventional wisdom that the United States can and should do more to reduce both the role of nuclear weapons in its security strategies and the number of weapons in its arsenal. The case against nuclear weapons has been made on many grounds—including historical, political, and moral. But, Brad Roberts argues, it has not so far been informed by the experience of the United States since the Cold War in trying to adapt deterrence to a changed world, and to create the conditions that would allow further significant changes to U.S. nuclear policy and posture. Drawing on the author’s experience in the making and implementation of U.S. policy in the Obama administration, this book examines that real-world experience and finds important lessons for the disarmament enterprise. Central conclusions of the work are that other nuclear-armed states are not prepared to join the United States in making reductions, and that unilateral steps by the United States to disarm further would be harmful to its interests and those of its allies. The book ultimately argues in favor of patience and persistence in the implementation of a balanced approach to nuclear strategy that encompasses political efforts to reduce nuclear dangers along with military efforts to deter them. “Well-researched and carefully argued.” ―Foreign Affairs

The Future of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy

The Future of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy PDF Author: Committee on International Security and Arms Control
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309518377
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 119

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Book Description
The debate about appropriate purposes and policies for U.S. nuclear weapons has been under way since the beginning of the nuclear age. With the end of the Cold War, the debate has entered a new phase, propelled by the post-Cold War transformations of the international political landscape. This volume--based on an exhaustive reexamination of issues addressed in The Future of the U.S.-Soviet Nuclear Relationship (NRC, 1991)--describes the state to which U.S. and Russian nuclear forces and policies have evolved since the Cold War ended. The book evaluates a regime of progressive constraints for future U.S. nuclear weapons policy that includes further reductions in nuclear forces, changes in nuclear operations to preserve deterrence but enhance operational safety, and measures to help prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons. In addition, it examines the conditions and means by which comprehensive nuclear disarmament could become feasible and desirable.

Post-Cold War Conflict Deterrence

Post-Cold War Conflict Deterrence PDF Author: Naval Studies Board
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309553237
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
Deterrence as a strategic concept evolved during the Cold War. During that period, deterrence strategy was aimed mainly at preventing aggression against the United States and its close allies by the hostile Communist power centers--the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and its allies, Communist China and North Korea. In particular, the strategy was devised to prevent aggression involving nuclear attack by the USSR or China. Since the end of the Cold War, the risk of war among the major powers has subsided to the lowest point in modern history. Still, the changing nature of the threats to American and allied security interests has stimulated a considerable broadening of the deterrence concept. Post-Cold War Conflict Deterrence examines the meaning of deterrence in this new environment and identifies key elements of a post-Cold War deterrence strategy and the critical issues in devising such a strategy. It further examines the significance of these findings for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Quantitative and qualitative measures to support judgments about the potential success or failure of deterrence are identified. Such measures will bear on the suitability of the naval forces to meet the deterrence objectives. The capabilities of U.S. naval forces that especially bear on the deterrence objectives also are examined. Finally, the book examines the utility of models, games, and simulations as decision aids in improving the naval forces' understanding of situations in which deterrence must be used and in improving the potential success of deterrence actions.

Future Roles of U.S. Nuclear Forces

Future Roles of U.S. Nuclear Forces PDF Author: Glenn C. Buchan
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 9780833029171
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
This study examines the possible roles of nuclear weapons in contemporary U.S. national security policy. The United States has a range of nuclear strategies and postures among which to choose: from abolition of U.S. nuclear weapons, aggressive reductions and "dealerting," "business as usual, only smaller," more aggressive nuclear posture, to nuclear emphasis. The nation should have the operational flexibility to in fact use a modest number of nuclear weapons if the need were overwhelming and other options were inadequate.

Doctrine for Joint Operations

Doctrine for Joint Operations PDF Author: United States. Joint Chiefs of Staff
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Unified operations (Military science)
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description


Arms and Influence

Arms and Influence PDF Author: Thomas C. Schelling
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300253486
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
“This is a brilliant and hardheaded book. It will frighten those who prefer not to dwell on the unthinkable and infuriate those who have taken refuge in stereotypes and moral attitudinizing.”—Gordon A. Craig, New York Times Book Review Originally published more than fifty years ago, this landmark book explores the ways in which military capabilities—real or imagined—are used, skillfully or clumsily, as bargaining power. Anne-Marie Slaughter’s new introduction to the work shows how Schelling’s framework—conceived of in a time of superpowers and mutually assured destruction—still applies to our multipolar world, where wars are fought as much online as on the ground.

The Future of Weapons of Mass Destruction: an Update

The Future of Weapons of Mass Destruction: an Update PDF Author: John P. Caves
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Deterrence (Strategy)
Languages : en
Pages : 108

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Book Description


My Journey at the Nuclear Brink

My Journey at the Nuclear Brink PDF Author: William Perry
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804797145
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
“Perry has long been one of the more strenuous advocates for confronting the dangers of the nuclear age, and his engaging memoir explains why.” —Foreign Affairs My Journey at the Nuclear Brink is a continuation of former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry's efforts to keep the world safe from a nuclear catastrophe. It tells the story of his coming of age in the nuclear era, his role in trying to shape and contain it, and how his thinking has changed about the threat these weapons pose. In a remarkable career, Perry has dealt firsthand with the changing nuclear threat. Decades of experience and special access to top-secret knowledge of strategic nuclear options have given Perry a unique, and chilling, vantage point from which to conclude that nuclear weapons endanger our security rather than securing it. This book traces his thought process as he journeys from the Cuban Missile Crisis, to crafting a defense strategy in the Carter Administration to offset the Soviets’ numeric superiority in conventional forces, to presiding over the dismantling of more than 8,000 nuclear weapons in the Clinton Administration, and to his creation in 2007, with George Shultz, Sam Nunn, and Henry Kissinger, of the Nuclear Security Project to articulate their vision of a world free from nuclear weapons and to lay out the urgent steps needed to reduce nuclear dangers. “Perry’s authoritative memoir. . . . is a clear, sobering and, for many, surprising warning that the danger of a nuclear catastrophe today is actually greater than it was during that era of U.S.-Soviet competition…a significant and insightful memoir and a necessary read.” —Mortimer B. Zuckerman, U.S. News & World Report

The Future of the U.S. Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Force

The Future of the U.S. Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Force PDF Author: Lauren Caston
Publisher: Rand Corporation
ISBN: 0833076264
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
The authors assess alternatives for a next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) across a broad set of potential characteristics and situations. They use the current Minuteman III as a baseline to develop a framework to characterize alternative classes of ICBMs, assess the survivability and effectiveness of possible alternatives, and weigh those alternatives against their cost.

Reassessing U.S. Nuclear Strategy

Reassessing U.S. Nuclear Strategy PDF Author: David W. Kearn
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781604979640
Category : National security
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
"This book reassesses the nuclear strategy of the United States. Despite the appearance of continuity in official policy statements, views within the Obama and Trump administrations and across the larger defense policy community have diverged on the appropriate role of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security, the optimal nuclear strategy for advancing U.S. interests, force structure requirements, and critical related issues. This is an important book for security and strategic studies and should be of interest to both scholars and practitioners in political science and international relations, especially in the field of nuclear weapons policy"--