Download or read book Future Roles of U S Nuclear Forces written by Glenn C. Buchan and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2003 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book Future Roles of U S Nuclear Forces Implications for U S Strategy written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study examines the possible roles of nuclear weapons in contemporary U.S. national security policy. Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been reexamining its basic assumptions about foreign policy and various instruments of national security policy to define its future needs. Nowhere is such an examination more important than in the nuclear arena.

Download or read book U S Nuclear Weapons Future Strategy and Force Posture written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 2 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been reexamining the role of nuclear forces in its national security policy. Traditional U.S. nuclear strategy was primarily intended to deter a Soviet attack against the United States, along with a few lesser objectives. This strategy called for a nuclear arsenal held at constant high alert and a Single Integrated Operational Plan (STOP) that would make execution of a retaliatory strike as simple, quick, and effective as possible. Today, the United States faces a more diverse set of potential threats. Political instability in established nuclear states such as Russia and Pakistan is a major concern. The deterioration of military command and control in Russia increases the chances of accidental or unauthorized launch. The possible emergence of new nuclear adversaries poses a further threat because of the wide variety of strategies and capabilities they may present. Nuclear weapons may become instruments of the weak rather than the strong. Weak regimes opposed to the United States may attempt to deliver nuclear warheads on trucks or ships, thus eluding U.S. tactical warning systems. States or groups that embrace radical, anti-American ideologies and feel that they have nothing left to lose may not be deterred by the threat of nuclear retaliation. Long before the current Bush administration took office, it was clear that the United States needed to rethink its fundamental nuclear posture. RAND Project AIR FORCE examined a range of strategies and force postures that the United States could adopt to make the most effective use of its nuclear forces in an uncertain world.

Download or read book The Future of U S Nuclear Weapons Policy written by Committee on International Security and Arms Control and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1997-07-01 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The Role of US Nuclear Weapons in the Post Cold War Era Report on Tactical and Strategic Nuclear Warheads WMD Deterrence START Treaties Force Levels Delivery Systems and Disarmament Proposals written by Air University Press and published by . This book was released on 2017-09-16 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Preface, the author writes: I initially proposed my research to look at START II levels and beyond, focusing on the question, "How low can we go?" As I witnessed President George Bush's unilateral initiatives and the Washington Summit agreement, I realized that nuclear weapons levels over the next decade already had been decided. I began to ask myself, "On what are these tremendous force reductions based?" and "Does the United States have a plan for when nonproliferation efforts fail?" These questions led me to my research topic, "What is the role of US nuclear weapons in the post-cold war era?" One thing is for sure: there are a multitude of opinions being expressed. I began my research with an examination of the role of nuclear weapons from a historical context. I then surveyed current unclassified national guidance regarding nuclear weapons. Following this, I examined the literature for what various proposals were being offered in the public sector as the future for US nuclear weapons. Due to the tremendous magnitude of literature on nuclear weapons, policy, strategy, and arms control, I chose to limit my coverage to a sampling of proposals that have been made over the last few years. I then looked at possible threats the United States may face over the next couple of decades. I limited this discussion to weapons of mass destruction, since these threats are most likely to draw a US nuclear response. Finally, I proposed some overall nuclear force characteristics that would provide the United States with a viable deterrent for the post-cold war era by maintaining the capability to respond across the full spectrum of conflict. Contents: Chapter 1 - Historical Overview of US Nuclear Policy * Chapter 2 - US Nuclear Policy after the Cold War * Chapter 3 - Current Thinking on the Future Role of Nuclear Weapons * Chapter 4 - The Threat-Weapons of Mass Destruction * Chapter 5 - US Nuclear Forces for the Post-Cold War Era * Chapter 6 - Conclusions and Recommendations

Download or read book Arms and Influence written by Thomas C. Schelling and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “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.

Download or read book The Future of U S Nuclear Weapons Policy written by National Academy of Sciences and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1997-06-17 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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 volumeâ€"based on an exhaustive reexamination of issues addressed in The Future of the U.S.-Soviet Nuclear Relationship (NRC, 1991)â€"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.

Download or read book Doctrine for Joint Operations written by United States. Joint Chiefs of Staff and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Strategic Appraisal written by Zalmay Khalilzad and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2002-07-31 with total page 510 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Change--in international relations, in technology, and in society as a whole--has become the idiom of our age. One example of these changes has been an increasing recognition of the value of air and space assets for handling nearly every contingency from disaster relief to war and, onsequently, increasing demand for such assets. These developments have created both challenges and opportunities for the U.S. Air Force. This, the fourth volume in the Strategic Appraisal series, draws on the expertise of researchers from across RAND to explore both the challenges and opportunities that the U.S. Air Force faces as it strives to support the nation's interests in a challenging technological and security environment.Contributors examine the changing roles of air and space forces in U.S.national security strategy, the implications of new systems and technologiesfor military operations, and the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. securitystrategy. Contributors also discuss the status of major modernizationefforts within the Air Force, and the bill of health of the Air Force, asmeasured by its readiness to undertake its missions both today and in thefuture.

Download or read book The Case for U S Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century written by Brad Roberts and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2015-12-09 with total page 351 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “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

Download or read book The Future of Extended Deterrence written by Stéfanie von Hlatky and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2015-08-04 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are NATO’s mutual security commitments strong enough today to deter all adversaries? Is the nuclear umbrella as credible as it was during the Cold War? Backed by the full range of US and allied military capabilities, NATO’s mutual defense treaty has been enormously successful, but today’s commitments are strained by military budget cuts and antinuclear sentiment. The United States has also shifted its focus away from European security during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and more recently with the Asia rebalance. Will a resurgent Russia change this? The Future of Extended Deterrence brings together experts and scholars from the policy and academic worlds to provide a theoretically rich and detailed analysis of post–Cold War nuclear weapons policy, nuclear deterrence, alliance commitments, nonproliferation, and missile defense in NATO but with implications far beyond. The contributors analyze not only American policy and ideas but also the ways NATO members interpret their own continued political and strategic role in the alliance. In-depth and multifaceted, The Future of Extended Deterrence is an essential resource for policy practitioners and scholars of nuclear deterrence, arms control, missile defense, and the NATO alliance.

Download or read book The Current Nuclear Dialogue written by Leon Sloss and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 4 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the end of the Cold War the Soviet military threat to Western Europe disappeared, and with it the principal rationale for U.S. nuclear policy. Since then the United States has been searching for a coherent policy as a basis for planning future nuclear forces. This search involving a small circle of experts received little public attention until the recent nuclear tests by India and Pakistan dramatized the emergence of a new nuclear order with implications far beyond South Asia. However, the U.S. policy community remains deeply divided over the future role of nuclear weapons.

Download or read book Protecting US Security by Minimizing the Role of Nuclear Weapons written by Barry M. Blechman and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 23 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Nuclear weapons remain the most potent destructive force known to humanity. Yet, US nuclear policies and doctrines remain encumbered by Cold War beliefs in the potential utility of nuclear weapons, even though the United States enjoys a dominant geopolitical position in the world, underpinned by a conventional military superiority greater than any ever known before. These false hopes that nuclear weapons can play a range of political and military roles in US security policy cause the United States to mistakenly pursue a nuclear strategy that is costly -- not only in material terms, but also in geopolitical terms. In the worst case scenarios, this strategy could be catastrophic in terms of human lives and the nation's future. The overarching goal of US nuclear policy and strategy should be to seek to minimize the roles played by these weapons, both in our own policies and in the policies of all other nations ... US nuclear policy should state clearly that US nuclear weapons serve only to deter others' use of nuclear weapons against the United States and its allies. Furthermore, the US should: a) as political circumstances make possible, pursue negotiated measures that could lead eventually to a verifiable international regime to eliminate all nuclear weapons from all nations; b) adopt declaratory policies and pursue diplomatic arrangements that strengthen the nuclear taboo; and c) focus its force structure solely on maintaining a secure, second-strike capability"--Publisher's web site.

Download or read book The Future Roles of U S Military Power and Their Implications written by William Thomas Johnsen and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1997 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the daily headlines attest, the Department of Defense is in the midst of a Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). Charged by Congress, the Department of Defense is examining a broad range of issues concerning U.S. military policy and strategy (inter alia, future national defense strategy, the force structure necessary to implement that strategy, the affects of technology on force structure, and the anticipated roles and missions of the Reserve Components in executing the defense strategy) that will have far-reaching consequences for the United States. Before these crucial issues are addressed, however, a more fundamental question needs to be explored: what does the United States want its military to do? In other words, what are the future roles of the U.S. military? Only after this issue has been answered can the Department of Defense turn to the other important issues posed by Congress. Dr. William T. Johnsen tackles this question. In brief, he concludes that the U.S. military will continue to perform its traditional roles: deterrence, reassurance, compellence, and support to the nation. The method and manner of carrying out those roles, however, will change; in some cases substantially. The implications of these adapted roles will be considerable. More importantly, Dr. Johnsen also examines the emerging role of preventive defense and its potentially profound consequences for the U.S. military. The debates carried out within and about the QDR will shape the security policy of the United States well into the 21st Century.

Download or read book Encyclopedia of Strategic Nuclear Forces Reports on Missiles Bombers Submarines Triad Warheads Modernization Plans ICBM SLBM START Treaty Long Range Standoff LRSO and Verification written by U. S. Military and published by . This book was released on 2017-10-02 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This unique book reproduces sixteen important government documents, reports, and studies dealing with American strategic nuclear forces, including the elements of the nuclear triad (missiles, bombers, and submarines), arms control issues and treaties, and modernization plans. Documents include: U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues (2015) * U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues (2013) * Counterforce Issues for the U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces * Considerations for a U.S. Nuclear Force Structure below a 1,000-Warhead Limit * Report of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Nuclear Capabilities * Projected Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2014 to 2023 * Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments * The National Military Strategy of the United States of America 2015 * Projected Costs of U.S. Nuclear Forces, 2015 to 2024 * Air Force Global Strike Command "To Deter and Assure" Strategic Master Plan 2014 * Task Force Report: Assessment of Nuclear Monitoring and Verification Technologies * U.S. Strategic Nuclear Forces: Background, Developments, and Issues (2009) * U.S. Nuclear Weapons: Changes in Policy and Force Structure * ICBMs - Their Relevance to U.S. Security and the United States Air Force in the 21st Century * Culture Clash: Bomber Nuclear Operations in a Post-Cold War World * Nuclear Strategy in the New World Order. Introduction * Background: The Strategic Triad * Force Structure and Size During the Cold War * Force Structure and Size After the Cold War * Current and Future Force Structure and Size * Strategic Nuclear Delivery Vehicles: Recent Reductions and Current Modernization Programs * Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs) * Peacekeeper (MX) * Minuteman III * Minuteman Modernization Programs. * Future Programs * Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles * The SSGN Program * The Backfit Program * Basing Changes * Warhead Loadings * Modernization Plans and Programs * The Ohio Replacement Program (ORP) Program * Bombers * B-1 Bomber * B-2 Bomber * B-52 Bomber * Future Bomber Plans * Sustaining the Nuclear Weapons Enterprise * Issues for Congress * Force Size * Force Structure * The Cost of Nuclear Weapons Since the early 1960s the United States has maintained a "triad" of strategic nuclear delivery vehicles. The United States first developed these three types of nuclear delivery vehicles, in large part, because each of the military services wanted to play a role in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. However, during the 1960s and 1970s, analysts developed a more reasoned rationale for the nuclear "triad." They argued that these different basing modes had complementary strengths and weaknesses. They would enhance deterrence and discourage a Soviet first strike because they complicated Soviet attack planning and ensured the survivability of a significant portion of the U.S. force in the event of a Soviet first strike. The different characteristics might also strengthen the credibility of U.S. targeting strategy. For example, ICBMs eventually had the accuracy and prompt responsiveness needed to attack hardened targets such as Soviet command posts and ICBM silos, SLBMs had the survivability needed to complicate Soviet efforts to launch a disarming first strike and to retaliate if such an attack were attempted, and heavy bombers could be dispersed quickly and launched to enhance their survivability, and they could be recalled to their bases if a crisis did not escalate into conflict. According to unclassified estimates, the number of delivery vehicles (ICBMs, SLBMs, and nuclear-capable bombers) in the U.S. force structure grew steadily through the mid-1960s, with the greatest number of delivery vehicles, 2,268, deployed in 1967.

Download or read book New Nuclear Nations written by Robert D. Blackwill and published by Council on Foreign Relations. This book was released on 1993 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Robert D. Blackwill and Albert Carnesale, along with eight other experts, analyze the national security consequences for the United States if new nuclear-weapon states emerge to threaten American interests.

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.