Download or read book Busting Myths about Nuclear Deterrence America Does Not Use Nuclear Weapons Nuclear Weapons Have Only Limited Utility for Their Cost Nukes Are Going Away U S Can Deter with Submarines Alone written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-23 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique study analyzes four myths about American nuclear weapons and the nuclear deterrence they provide. America is embarked on a quest for a world without nuclear weapons, but we live in a world not yet safe from war and threats of war. Hence, as long as nuclear weapons exist, the United States must maintain a safe, secure, and effective arsenal--both to deter potential adversaries and to assure US allies and other security partners that they can count on US security commitments. Our nuclear posture communicates to potential nuclear-armed adversaries that they cannot use nuclear threats to intimidate the United States, its allies, or partners or escalate their way out of failed conventional aggression. The United States Air Force (USAF) will continue to maintain its responsibilities as steward of two of the nation's three legs of the strategic nuclear triad and the nation's associated nuclear command, control, and communications infrastructure.Since the Cold War, three states (India, Pakistan, and North Korea) have developed nuclear-weapon capabilities, while Iran remains on course to do so. Moreover, ongoing nuclear modernization programs in China and Russia point to the continued importance of nuclear deterrence and assurance for our allies and partners. Some countries now have military doctrines that include potential first use of nuclear weapons in a militarized crisis, and these countries regularly exercise those doctrines. These threats require the United States to seriously consider its responsibility to educate and advocate for the commitment and investment needed to sustain nuclear deterrence capabilities in a dangerous world.

Download or read book U S Nuclear Deterrence Policy Do We Have It Right Assessing American Nuclear Policy Based on Feasibility Acceptability and Suitability Counterpo written by U. S. Military and published by Independently Published. This book was released on 2019-01-27 with total page 68 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Cold War is over and the Soviet Union is gone. Africa, the South Pacific, and Latin America are nuclear weapon free zones. China is a most favored trading partner. The United States and Russia have dismantled hundreds of nuclear weapons and decommissioned scores of bombers and submarines. There is a myriad of international treaties designed to create a world without threat of nuclear holocaust. So why do states and other actors continue to seek nuclear weapons? Iran is in the media with its thinly veiled efforts to establish itself as a nuclear power. On 6 September 2007, Israel bombed a facility in Syria they believed to be a nuclear threat. North Korea is fattening its international bargaining power with its nuclear program. Pakistan, a nation teetering on the edge of political upheaval, has nuclear missiles. Transnational terrorist organizations relish the thought of acquiring an atomic device. Today's nuclear world is not the one our parent's knew. The purpose of this paper is to assess U.S. nuclear deterrence policy to see how it has evolved and if it is appropriate for today's changed security environment.During the Cold War the United States built an immense nuclear arsenal to deter nuclear war with the Soviet Union; a clear and valid raison d'etre. The Cold War is over; has been over for more than 10 years. The Soviet Union is gone. Our Armed Forces got a medal for it. Africa, the South Pacific, Outer Space, and Latin America are nuclear weapons free zones. Today, we have the Limited Test Ban Treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, an Outer Space Treaty, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), three Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties, the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, two Strategic Arms Reduction Treaties, and the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty. The convergent thesis of these and other international agreements is a movement to remove nuclear arsenals from the options list of nation-states. The cornerstone of the movement to create a nuclear weapons free world is the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The NPT is a universally recognized agreement among 136 nuclear and non-nuclear nations to prevent the expansion of nuclear weapons to non-nuclear states. The days of living under the cloud of "Mutual Assured Destruction" have passed. So what is the purpose of retaining nuclear weapons in this new environment? Why are we investing tax dollars in new nuclear technology and upgrading our weapons stockpile? Where is the peace dividend?

Download or read book Getting MAD Nuclear Mutual Assured Destruction Its Origins and Practice written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nearly 40 years after the concept of finite deterrence was popularized by the Johnson administration, nuclear Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) thinking appears to be in decline. The United States has rejected the notion that threatening population centers with nuclear attacks is a legitimate way to assure deterrence. Most recently, it withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, an agreement based on MAD. American opposition to MAD also is reflected in the Bush administration's desire to develop smaller, more accurate nuclear weapons that would reduce the number of innocent civilians killed in a nuclear strike. Still, MAD is influential in a number of ways. First, other countries, like China, have not abandoned the idea that holding their adversaries' cities at risk is necessary to assure their own strategic security. Nor have U.S. and allied security officials and experts fully abandoned the idea. At a minimum, acquiring nuclear weapons is still viewed as being sensible to face off a hostile neighbor that might strike one's own cities. Thus, our diplomats have been warning China that Japan would be under tremendous pressure to go nuclear if North Korea persisted in acquiring a few crude weapons of its own. Similarly, Israeli officials have long argued, without criticism, that they would not be second in acquiring nuclear weapons in the Middle East. Indeed, given that Israelis surrounded by enemies that would not hesitate to destroy its population if they could, Washington finds Israel's retention of a significant nuclear capability totally "understandable."

Download or read book Nuclear Weapons and Coercive Diplomacy written by Todd S. Sechser and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-02 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are nuclear weapons useful for coercive diplomacy? This book argues that they are useful for deterrence but not for offensive purposes.

Download or read book Is There Future Utility in Nuclear Weapons Nuclear Weapons Save Lives Strong Arguments Against Nuclear Disarmament Historical Case Studies and Potential for Future Threats Need for Deterrent written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2019-02-09 with total page 59 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This short but powerful report argues strongly against nuclear disarmament. Contents: Is There Future Utility in Nuclear Weapons? Nuclear Weapons Save Lives * 2019 U.S. Intelligence Community Worldwide Threat Assessment.The debate over the future of nuclear weapons has become more prominent each year since the end of the Cold War. The United States leadership is faced with a decision regarding the future of the nuclear weapons program in the face of worldwide proliferation concerns and threats. There are many cogent arguments for disarmament of the nuclear arsenal, specifically focused on cost, international instability and proliferation concerns, the potential for nuclear terrorism, and the credibility of the American deterrent. Those concerns, however, do not overmatch the future requirement of a nuclear deterrent. Nuclear weapons are a cost effective wedge against existential threats facing the United States from Russia and China, as well as a proven deterrent against large-scale great power war, which has been avoided worldwide since the Atomic Age began. The United States must continue to resource the nuclear deterrent and communicate a posture that ensures allies and deters potential adversaries. The threat remains, and the United States must maintain its leadership position to ensure international stability.In the first section, there will be an examination of current arguments in support of nuclear disarmament. There are myriad voices, authors and think tanks pushing an agenda of a global nuclear "zero." Consideration will be given to those who believe nuclear weapons no longer serve a purpose, and who believe the United States should lead the world into nuclear disarmament. Their prevailing arguments will be outlined and analyzed. There are those who argue that nuclear weapons only deter nuclear war. This is the idea that in a world without a nuclear threat, there is no utility for anyone to have nuclear weapons, and the United States should be the world's leader toward disarmament. There are also those who believe nuclear weapons are a cost prohibitive portion of the military arsenal, and that United States' treasure should be spent elsewhere. Third, some believe nuclear weapons create instability in the world, and that nuclear proliferation, particularly among rogue states and/or violent non-state actors, is the greatest threat to US national security in the current day. Effectively, this is the idea that nuclear weapons make the world a more dangerous place. Last, and potentially most important, there are those that support the idea that the American people could never stomach the use of nuclear weapons. It is a credibility argument. Why should the United States have nuclear weapons if it will not use them? With the arguments in support of nuclear disarmament established, an examination in response to each will be offered. The second section of this paper will provide counter arguments to the "views of others" outlined in section one, in turn. First, an analysis of history will examine what the effect of nuclear weapons has been. By reviewing the history of war in the twentieth century, an assessment of the utility of nuclear weapons will be made. Who has nuclear weapons? What has been the effect? Next, there will be a review of the cost of continuing to maintain a nuclear arsenal in relation to large-scale conventional conflict and other American spending. This comparison will shed light on the country's perceived priorities. Third, the idea that nuclear weapons make the world unstable and/or unsafe, leading to greater potential for conflict will be reviewed. There will be a review of historical case studies, potential for future threats and the insinuated effect of nuclear weapons. Last, the argument that the United States will never use nuclear weapons is important.

Download or read book The Second Nuclear Age written by Colin S. Gray and published by Lynne Rienner Publishers. This book was released on 1999 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author takes issue with the complacent belief that a happy mixture of deterrence, arms control and luck will enable humanity to cope adequately with weapons of mass destruction, arguing that the risks are ever more serious.

Download or read book Tailored Deterrence written by Barry R. Schneider and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Nuclear Weapons and American Grand Strategy written by Francis J. Gavin and published by . This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring what we know--and don't know--about how nuclear weapons shape American grand strategy and international relations A 2020 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title The world first confronted the power of nuclear weapons when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. The global threat of these weapons deepened in the following decades as more advanced weapons, aggressive strategies, and new nuclear powers emerged. Ever since, countless books, reports, and articles--and even a new field of academic inquiry called "security studies"--have tried to explain the so-called nuclear revolution. Francis J. Gavin argues that scholarly and popular understanding of many key issues about nuclear weapons is incomplete at best and wrong at worst. Among these important, misunderstood issues are: how nuclear deterrence works; whether nuclear coercion is effective; how and why the United States chose its nuclear strategies; why countries develop their own nuclear weapons or choose not to do so; and, most fundamentally, whether nuclear weapons make the world safer or more dangerous. These and similar questions still matter because nuclear danger is returning as a genuine threat. Emerging technologies and shifting great-power rivalries seem to herald a new type of cold war just three decades after the end of the U.S.-Soviet conflict that was characterized by periodic prospects of global Armageddon. Nuclear Weapons and American Grand Strategy helps policymakers wrestle with the latest challenges. Written in a clear, accessible, and jargon-free manner, the book also offers insights for students, scholars, and others interested in both the history and future of nuclear danger.

Download or read book Uranium Enrichment and Nuclear Weapon Proliferation written by Allan S. Krass and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-11-20 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published in 1983, this book presents both the technical and political information necessary to evaluate the emerging threat to world security posed by recent advances in uranium enrichment technology. Uranium enrichment has played a relatively quiet but important role in the history of efforts by a number of nations to acquire nuclear weapons and by a number of others to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. For many years the uranium enrichment industry was dominated by a single method, gaseous diffusion, which was technically complex, extremely capital-intensive, and highly inefficient in its use of energy. As long as this remained true, only the richest and most technically advanced nations could afford to pursue the enrichment route to weapon acquisition. But during the 1970s this situation changed dramatically. Several new and far more accessible enrichment techniques were developed, stimulated largely by the anticipation of a rapidly growing demand for enrichment services by the world-wide nuclear power industry. This proliferation of new techniques, coupled with the subsequent contraction of the commercial market for enriched uranium, has created a situation in which uranium enrichment technology might well become the most important contributor to further nuclear weapon proliferation. Some of the issues addressed in this book are: A technical analysis of the most important enrichment techniques in a form that is relevant to analysis of proliferation risks; A detailed projection of the world demand for uranium enrichment services; A summary and critique of present institutional non-proliferation arrangements in the world enrichment industry, and An identification of the states most likely to pursue the enrichment route to acquisition of nuclear weapons.

Download or read book Thinking about Deterrence written by Air Univeristy Press and published by Military Bookshop. This book was released on 2014-09-01 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With many scholars and analysts questioning the relevance of deterrence as a valid strategic concept, this volume moves beyond Cold War nuclear deterrence to show the many ways in which deterrence is applicable to contemporary security. It examines the possibility of applying deterrence theory and practice to space, to cyberspace, and against non-state actors. It also examines the role of nuclear deterrence in the twenty-first century and reaches surprising conclusions.

Download or read book On Limited Nuclear War in the 21st Century written by Jeffrey A Larsen and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2014-04-02 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These essays by nuclear policy experts provide “a speculative but serious and well-informed journey through a variety of scenarios and contingencies” (Foreign Affairs). Recent decades have seen a slow but steady increase in nuclear armed states, and in the seemingly less constrained policy goals of some of the newer “rogue” states in the international system. The authors of On Limited Nuclear War in the 21st Century argue that a time may come when one of these states makes the conscious decision that using a nuclear weapon against the United States, its allies, or forward deployed forces in the context of a crisis or a regional conventional conflict may be in its interests. They assert that we are unprepared for these types of limited nuclear wars and that it is urgent we rethink the theory, policy, and implementation of force related to our approaches to this type of engagement. Together they critique Cold War doctrine on limited nuclear war and consider a number of the key concepts that should govern our approach to limited nuclear conflict in the future. These include identifying the factors likely to lead to limited nuclear war; examining the geopolitics of future conflict scenarios that might lead to small-scale nuclear use; and assessing strategies for crisis management and escalation control. Finally, they consider a range of strategies and operational concepts for countering, controlling, or containing limited nuclear war. “A series of trenchant essays that deconstruct a critical national security challenge that most of us wish did not exist. Assembling a star-studded cast of scholars, analysts, and policy practitioners, Larsen and Kartchner have produced some of the most important new thinking on an old topic.” —H-Diplo

Download or read book The Second Nuclear Age written by Paul Bracken and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2012-11-13 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading international security strategist offers a compelling new way to "think about the unthinkable." The cold war ended more than two decades ago, and with its end came a reduction in the threat of nuclear weapons—a luxury that we can no longer indulge. It's not just the threat of Iran getting the bomb or North Korea doing something rash; the whole complexion of global power politics is changing because of the reemergence of nuclear weapons as a vital element of statecraft and power politics. In short, we have entered the second nuclear age. In this provocative and agenda-setting book, Paul Bracken of Yale University argues that we need to pay renewed attention to nuclear weapons and how their presence will transform the way crises develop and escalate. He draws on his years of experience analyzing defense strategy to make the case that the United States needs to start thinking seriously about these issues once again, especially as new countries acquire nuclear capabilities. He walks us through war-game scenarios that are all too realistic, to show how nuclear weapons are changing the calculus of power politics, and he offers an incisive tour of the Middle East, South Asia, and East Asia to underscore how the United States must not allow itself to be unprepared for managing such crises. Frank in its tone and farsighted in its analysis, The Second Nuclear Age is the essential guide to the new rules of international politics.

Download or read book On Theories of Victory Red and Blue written by Brad Roberts and published by . This book was released on 2020-05-10 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While the United States and its allies put their military focus on the post-9/11 challenges of counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency, Russia and China put their military focus onto the United States and the risks of regional wars that they came to believe they might have to fight against the United States. Their first priority was to put their intellectual houses in order-that is, to adapt military thought and strategic planning to the new problem. The result is a set of ideas about how to bring the United States and its allies to a "culminating point" where they choose to no longer run the costs and risks of continued war. This is the "red theory of victory." Beginning in the second presidential term of Obama administration, the U.S. military focus began to shift, driven by rising Russian and Chinese military assertiveness and outspoken opposition to the regional security orders on their peripheries. But U.S. military thought has been slow to catch up. As a recent bipartisan congressional commission concluded, the U.S. intellectual house is dangerously out of order for this new strategic problem. There is no Blue theory of victory. Such a theory should explain how the United States and its allies can strip away the confidence of leaders in Moscow and Beijing (and Pyongyang) in their "escalation calculus"-that is, that they will judge the costs too high, the benefits to low, and the risks incalculable. To develop, improve, and implement the needed new concepts requires a broad campaign of activities by the United States and full partnership with its allies.

Download or read book Nuclear Deterrence written by Serge Sur (red.) and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Fallacies of Cold War Deterrence and a New Direction written by Keith B. Payne and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-07-11 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain hoped that a policy of appeasement would satisfy Adolf Hitler's territorial appetite and structured British policy accordingly. This plan was a failure, chiefly because Hitler was not a statesman who would ultimately conform to familiar norms. Chamberlain's policy was doomed because he had greatly misjudged Hitler's basic beliefs and thus his behavior. U.S. Cold War nuclear deterrence policy was similarly based on the confident but questionable assumption that Soviet leaders would be rational by Washington's standards; they would behave reasonably when presented with nuclear threats. The United States assumed that any sane challenger would be deterred from severe provocations because not to do so would be foolish. Keith B. Payne addresses the question of whether this line of reasoning is adequate for the post-Cold War period. By analyzing past situations and a plausible future scenario, a U.S.-Chinese crisis over Taiwan, he proposes that American policymakers move away from the assumption that all our opponents are comfortably predictable by the standards of our own culture. In order to avoid unexpected and possibly disastrous failures of deterrence, he argues, we should closely examine particular opponents' culture and beliefs in order to better anticipate their likely responses to U.S. deterrence threats.

Download or read book Technologies underlying weapons of mass destruction written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book U S Nuclear Weapons Policy written by William James Perry and published by Council on Foreign Relations. This book was released on 2009 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The report notes that in the near term nuclear weapons will remain a fundamental element of U.S. national security. For this reason it emphasizes the importance of maintaining a safe, secure, and reliable deterrent nuclear force and makes recommendations on this front. The report also offers measures to advance important goals such as preventing nuclear terrorism and bolstering the nuclear nonproliferation regime--Foreword.