Download or read book Safety and Reliability of the U S Nuclear Deterrent written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book U S nuclear policy in the 21st century a fresh look at national strategy and requirements final report written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1998 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sweeping changes are occurring in the international system, presenting the United States with both opportunities and challenges. The East-West strategic rivalry that dominated the global security environment for over forty years has been fundamentally and, in a number of critical ways, irreversibly altered. Yet the world continues to be unpredictable and dangerous. Relations with Russia and China have improved dramatically in the last ten years but remain uncertain. Both states continue to emphasize and modernize their nuclear arsenals. In other regions of vital interest to the United States, potential adversaries increasingly have at their disposal advanced conventional and unconventional capabilities, as well as weapons of mass destruction and the means for their delivery. Together, these and other factors, such as the ongoing revolution in military technology, have engendered major adjustments in U.S. national security policy and in the strategy and forces that support U.S. security interests. A series of U.S. government analyses, including the Nuclear Posture Review and the Quadrennial Defense Review, has guided the restructuring of U.S. conventional forces and provided the basis for the late 1997 Presidential Decision Directive on nuclear weapons policy. Further analyses and adjustments will certainly follow. As a contribution to this dynamic process, this report assesses the rationale and requirements for U.S. nuclear weapons, and the infrastructure and people that are critical to their sustainment, in the current and future security environment. By so doing, the report is intended to promote greater understanding of the issues and the measures that will be necessary to sustain deterrence in an uncertain future. The American public and its leadership in both the Executive and Legislative branches must remain informed, involved, and supportive. Absent concerted and continuing high-level attention to the policies and programs supporting its nuclear forces, 7.

Download or read book Nuclear Weapons Annual Assessment of the Safety Performance Reliability of the Nation s Stockpile written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on with total page 24 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Limits of Safety written by Scott Douglas Sagan and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Environmental tragedies such as Chernobyl, the Exxon Valdez, and Bhopal remind us that catastrophic accidents are always possible in a modern world full of hazardous technologies. Yet, the safety record appears to be extraordinarily good with nuclear weapons, the most dangerous technology of all. This safety record has led scholars, policy-makers, and the public alike to believe that nuclear weapons can serve as a safe and secure deterrent into the foreseeable future in the post-Cold War era. In this provocative and path-breaking book, Scott Sagan challenges such optimistic beliefs. Sagan's painstaking research into formerly classified archives penetrates the veil of safety that has surrounded U.S. nuclear weapons operations. Guided by theories of reliability in complex organizations, Sagan has uncovered a hidden history of frightening "close calls" to disaster: lost nuclear-armed bombers fly into the Russian warning net, Air Force officers tamper with missiles to be able to launch them without orders, B-52 bombers crash with thermonuclear weapons aboard and then vanish from the official histories, an unstable pilot deliberately turns on the two arming switches on his aircraft's nuclear bombs, and false warnings during the Cuban missile crisis lead pilots and radar operators to believe that the United States is under nuclear attack. Incomprehension, political maneuvering, and even cover-ups have limited what we have learned from these dangerous incidents, and Sagan maintains that many hidden bugs in the system remain. While the risk of deliberate nuclear war has been reduced with the end of the Cold War, the risk of serious accidents, even accidental war, remains unacceptably high. The inheritance of nuclear missiles by Soviet successor states, the continuing spread of the bomb to developing nations, and misplaced confidence in the safety of our own arsenal should produce deep concerns. Unless we radically change the posture of our nuclear arsenal, over the long run, when we least expect it, a serious accident will occur. The key factors that scholars believe lead to high organizational reliability - redundant back-up systems, personnel discipline, and trial-and-error learning - have not produced a safe nuclear arsenal. This book therefore challenges our beliefs, not only about nuclear weapons safety, but also about our ability to control the many other hazardous technologies on which modern society is based.

Download or read book National Security and Nuclear Weapons written by United States. National Nuclear Security Administration and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A principal national security goal of the United States is to deter aggression against ourselves and our allies. Every American administration since President Truman has formulated a U.S. national security policy that makes clear the essential role that nuclear weapons play in maintaining deterrence. It is the policy of this Administration to achieve an effective strategic deterrent at the lowest level of nuclear weapons consistent with our national security and our commitments to allies. In 2001, President Bush directed that the United States reduce the number of operationally deployed strategic nuclear weapons from about 6,000 to 1,700-2,200 by 2012 -- a two-thirds reduction. Corresponding reductions in the nuclear stockpile will result in the lowest level since the Eisenhower Administration. However, these reductions in the stockpile are only achievable with a responsive nuclear infrastructure. Successive efforts at extending the service life of the current inventory of weapons risks incorporating technical changes that could, over time, inadvertently undermine their reliability and performance. As the United States continues to observe a moratorium on underground nuclear testing, it becomes increasingly difficult to certify the existing stockpile of weapons. Moreover, it is difficult to incorporate modern safety and security features into Cold War-era weapon designs. To address these issues of sustainability, safety, security, and reliability, and to achieve a smaller yet credible nuclear deterrent force, the United States needs to invest in the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) program. RRW will make U.S. nuclear weapons safer and more secure against unauthorized use by incorporating state-of-the-art security features that cannot be retro-fitted to older weapons. RRW designs will provide more favorable reliability and performance margins than those currently in the stockpile, and will be less sensitive to incremental aging effects or manufacturing variances.

Download or read book Nuclear Weapons written by Gene Aloise and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 21 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Safety and Reliability of the U S Nuclear Deterrent written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Subcommittee on International Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Nuclear Weapons Safety and the Common Defense written by Joel Larus and published by . This book was released on 1967 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

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 Technical Issues Related to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty written by National Academy of Sciences and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2002-08-01 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing upon the considerable existing body of technical material related to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the National Academy of Sciences reviewed and assessed the key technical issues that arose during the Senate debate over treaty ratification. In particular, these include: (1) the capacity of the United States to maintain confidence in the safety and reliability of its nuclear stockpile in the absence of nuclear testing; (2) the nuclear-test detection capabilities of the international monitoring system (with and without augmentation by national systems and instrumentation in use for scientific purposes, and taking into account the possibilities for decoupling nuclear explosions from surrounding geologic media); and (3) the additions to their nuclear-weapons capabilities that other countries could achieve through nuclear testing at yield levels that might escape detection, and the effect of such additions on the security of the United States.

Download or read book Nuclear Weapons written by U.s. Government Accountability Office and published by . This book was released on 2017-08-15 with total page 38 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In March 2009, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), a separately organized agency within the Department of Energy, completed construction of the National Ignition Facility (NIF). NNSA considers NIF critical to its stockpile stewardship program to ensure the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons, absent live nuclear testing. NIF is intended to simulate the extreme temperatures and pressures of "ignition"-an atomic fusion event propagating a nuclear explosion-for the first time in a laboratory. GAO was asked to examine (1) the extent to which NNSA has addressed key scientific and technical challenges that could prevent ignition at NIF; (2) whether NNSA has an effective approach for managing the cost, schedule, and scope of ignition-related activities; and (3) potential impacts to NNSA's stockpile stewardship program if ignition at NIF is not achieved, as planned, between fiscal years 2010 and 2012. To conduct this work, GAO analyzed relevant budgets, reports, and plans, and interviewed NNSA and national laboratory officials and independent experts. "

Download or read book Command and Control written by Eric Schlosser and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-09-17 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Oscar-shortlisted documentary Command and Control, directed by Robert Kenner, finds its origins in Eric Schlosser's book and continues to explore the little-known history of the management and safety concerns of America's nuclear aresenal. “Deeply reported, deeply frightening . . . a techno-thriller of the first order.” —Los Angeles Times “A devastatingly lucid and detailed new history of nuclear weapons in the U.S. . . . fascinating.” —Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine A myth-shattering exposé of America’s nuclear weapons Famed investigative journalist Eric Schlosser digs deep to uncover secrets about the management of America’s nuclear arsenal. A groundbreaking account of accidents, near misses, extraordinary heroism, and technological breakthroughs, Command and Control explores the dilemma that has existed since the dawn of the nuclear age: How do you deploy weapons of mass destruction without being destroyed by them? That question has never been resolved—and Schlosser reveals how the combination of human fallibility and technological complexity still poses a grave risk to mankind. While the harms of global warming increasingly dominate the news, the equally dangerous yet more immediate threat of nuclear weapons has been largely forgotten. Written with the vibrancy of a first-rate thriller, Command and Control interweaves the minute-by-minute story of an accident at a nuclear missile silo in rural Arkansas with a historical narrative that spans more than fifty years. It depicts the urgent effort by American scientists, policy makers, and military officers to ensure that nuclear weapons can’t be stolen, sabotaged, used without permission, or detonated inadvertently. Schlosser also looks at the Cold War from a new perspective, offering history from the ground up, telling the stories of bomber pilots, missile commanders, maintenance crews, and other ordinary servicemen who risked their lives to avert a nuclear holocaust. At the heart of the book lies the struggle, amid the rolling hills and small farms of Damascus, Arkansas, to prevent the explosion of a ballistic missile carrying the most powerful nuclear warhead ever built by the United States. Drawing on recently declassified documents and interviews with people who designed and routinely handled nuclear weapons, Command and Control takes readers into a terrifying but fascinating world that, until now, has been largely hidden from view. Through the details of a single accident, Schlosser illustrates how an unlikely event can become unavoidable, how small risks can have terrible consequences, and how the most brilliant minds in the nation can only provide us with an illusion of control. Audacious, gripping, and unforgettable, Command and Control is a tour de force of investigative journalism, an eye-opening look at the dangers of America’s nuclear age.

Download or read book Nuclear Weapons Personnel Reliability written by Department of Department of Defense and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-01-16 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: PURPOSE. This manual reissues DoD 5210.42-R (Reference (a)) as a DoD manual in accordance with the authority in DoD Directive 5134.08 (Reference (b)). It implements the policy in DoD Instruction 5210.42 (Reference (c)), assigns responsibilities, and prescribes mandatory procedures for the DoD Nuclear Weapons Personnel Reliability Program (PRP) to ensure the safety and security of the U.S. nuclear deterrent mission.

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 Nuclear Weapons written by United States Government Accountability Office and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-09-23 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DOE participates in the annual process to assess the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, which is now made up largely of weapons that are beyond their original design lifetimes. In 2007, faced with a mounting backlog of required tests, DOE's NNSA announced plans to use its Enhanced Surveillance Program for a more cost-effective surveillance approach under its 2007 Surveillance Transformation initiative. Under this initiative, predictive models were to assess the impact of aging on weapons in the stockpile without having to dismantle them as the agency has done in the past. The Senate Report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 included a provision that GAO review the status of the Enhanced Surveillance Program. This report assesses the extent to which NNSA implemented the vision for the Enhanced Surveillance Program from its 2007 initiative and developed a long-term strategy for the program. GAO reviewed NNSA plans and budget and other documents; interviewed agency officials; and discussed surveillance issues with members of a group of nationally known scientists who advise the government and who reviewed the program in September 2013.

Download or read book The Future of the U S Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Force written by Lauren Caston and published by Rand Corporation. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Download or read book The Logic of Accidental Nuclear War written by Bruce G. Blair and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2011-04-01 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The end of the cold war and the disintegration of the Soviet Union has not eliminated the threat posed to international security by nuclear weapons. The Soviet breakup actually created a new set of dangers: the accidental or unauthorized use of nuclear weapons and the illicit transfer of nuclear warheads, technology, or expertise to the Third World. The Logic of Accidental Nuclear War analyzes the danger of nuclear inadvertence lurking in the command and control systems of the nuclear superpowers. Foreign policy expert Bruce G. Blair identifies the cold war roots of the contemporary risks and outlines a comprehensive policy agenda to strengthen control over nuclear forces. Based on discussions with numerous U.S. and Russian experts, including Russian launch officers who served in the strategic rocket forces and ballistic missile submarines, this book reveals a wealth of new facts about the hidden history of U.S. and Soviet nuclear crisis alerts and exercises. It is a richly detailed, rigorous, and authoritative account of nuclear operations and overturns much conventional wisdom on the subject.