U S Nuclear Weapons Policy

Author : Brad Roberts
Publisher : Stanford University Press
Page : 351 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2015-12-09
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780804797153

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The Case for U.S. Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century by Brad Roberts Pdf

“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

Author : National Academy of Sciences,Committee on International Security and Arms Control
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 118 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 1997-06-17
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780309174640

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The Future of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy by National Academy of Sciences,Committee on International Security and Arms Control Pdf

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.

Author : William James Perry,Brent Scowcroft,Charles D. Ferguson
Publisher : Council on Foreign Relations
Page : 149 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2009
Category : History
ISBN : 9780876094204

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U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy by William James Perry,Brent Scowcroft,Charles D. Ferguson Pdf

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.

Author : George Bunn,Christopher F. Chyba
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
Page : 357 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2007-08-29
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780815713678

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U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy by George Bunn,Christopher F. Chyba Pdf

A Brookings Institution Press and the Center for International Security and Cooperation publication What role should nuclear weapons play in today's world? How can the United States promote international security while safeguarding its own interests? U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy informs this debate with an analysis of current nuclear weapons policies and strategies, including those for deterring, preventing, or preempting nuclear attack; preventing further proliferation, to nations and terrorists; modifying weapons designs; and revising the U.S. nuclear posture. Presidents Bush and Clinton made major changes in U.S. policy after the Cold War, and George W. Bush's administration made further, more radical changes after 9/11. Leaked portions of 2001's Nuclear Posture Review, for example, described more aggressive possible uses for nuclear weapons. This important volume examines the significance of such changes and suggests a way forward for U.S. policy, emphasizing stronger security of nuclear weapons and materials, international compliance with nonproliferation obligations, attention to the demand side of proliferation, and reduced reliance on nuclear weapons in U.S. foreign policy.

Author : Amy F. Woolf
Publisher : Nova Novinka
Page : 86 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2005
Category : History
ISBN : STANFORD:36105122056281

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U.S. Nuclear Weapons by Amy F. Woolf Pdf

The Bush Administration conducted a review of US nuclear weapons force posture during its first year in office. Although the review sought to adjust US nuclear posture to address changes in the international security environment at the start of the new century, it continued many of the policies and programs that had been a part of the US nuclear posture during the previous decades and during the Cold War. This book provides an overview of the US nuclear posture to highlight areas of change and areas of continuity. During the Cold War, the United States sought to deter the Soviet Union and its allies from attacking the United States and its allies by convincing the Soviet Union that any level of conflict could escalate into a nuclear exchange and, in that exchange, the United States would plan to destroy the full range of valued targets in the Soviet Union. Other nations were included in US nuclear war plans due to their alliances with the Soviet Union. After the Cold War, the United States maintained a substantial nuclear arsenal to deter potential threats from Russia. It would not forswear the first use of nuclear weapons in conflicts with other nations, armed with chemical or biological weapons, and formed contingency plans for such conflicts. The Bush Administration has emphasised that the United States and Russia are no longer enemies and that the United States will no longer plan or size its nuclear force to deter a 'Russian threat'. Instead, the United States will maintain a nuclear arsenal with the capabilities needed to counter capabilities of any potential adversary, focusing on 'how we will fight' rather than 'who we will fight'. Furthermore, US nuclear weapons will combine with missile defences, conventional weapons, and a responsive infrastructure in seeking to assure US allies, dissuade US adversaries, deter conflict, and defeat adversaries if conflict should occur. Analysts and observers have identified several issues raised by the Administration's Nuclear Posture Review. These include the role of nuclear weapons in US national security policy, how to make the US nuclear deterrent 'credible', the relationship between the US nuclear posture and the goal of discouraging nuclear proliferation, plans for strategic nuclear weapons, and the future of non-strategic nuclear weapons.

Author : Michèle A. Flournoy
Publisher : HarperCollins Publishers
Page : 340 pages
File Size : 45,8 Mb
Release : 1993
Category : History
ISBN : UCAL:B4967259

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Nuclear Weapons After the Cold War by Michèle A. Flournoy Pdf

Author : Thomas M. Nichols
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
Page : 232 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2014
Category : History
ISBN : 9780812245660

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No Use by Thomas M. Nichols Pdf

For more than forty years, the United States has maintained a public commitment to nuclear disarmament, and every president from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama has gradually reduced the size of America's nuclear forces. Yet even now, over two decades after the end of the Cold War, the United States maintains a huge nuclear arsenal on high alert and ready for war. The Americans, like the Russians, the Chinese, and other major nuclear powers, continue to retain a deep faith in the political and military value of nuclear force, and this belief remains enshrined at the center of U.S. defense policy regardless of the radical changes that have taken place in international politics. In No Use, national security scholar Thomas M. Nichols offers a lucid, accessible reexamination of the role of nuclear weapons and their prominence in U.S. security strategy. Nichols explains why strategies built for the Cold War have survived into the twenty-first century, and he illustrates how America's nearly unshakable belief in the utility of nuclear arms has hindered U.S. and international attempts to slow the nuclear programs of volatile regimes in North Korea and Iran. From a solid historical foundation, Nichols makes the compelling argument that to end the danger of worldwide nuclear holocaust, the United States must take the lead in abandoning unrealistic threats of nuclear force and then create a new and more stable approach to deterrence for the twenty-first century.

Author : National Academy of Sciences,Committee on International Security and Arms Control
Publisher : National Academies Press
Page : 76 pages
File Size : 47,5 Mb
Release : 1991-02-01
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9780309045827

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The Future of the U.S.-Soviet Nuclear Relationship by National Academy of Sciences,Committee on International Security and Arms Control Pdf

The United States and the Soviet Union could drastically reduce their nuclear arsenals below the levels prescribed by the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). The end of the Cold War and the transformation of international security now under way present the United States with opportunities to develop new policies based on greater international cooperation with the Soviet Union and other major powers. This new book describes two lower levels of nuclear forces that could be achieved, as well as other related measures to improve international security.

Author : Amy F. Woolf
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
Page : 25 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2010-02
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9781437923254

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Nuclear Weapons in U. S. National Security Policy by Amy F. Woolf Pdf

Contents: (1) Introduction; (2) Nuclear Weapons in U.S. National Security Policy: The Evolving Role of Nuclear Weapons; Need for a National Debate?; (3) Defining Deterrence: Deterrence, in Theory; Deterrence, During the Cold War; Deterrence, After the Cold War; Deterrence in the 21st Century; (4) Issues for Congress: How Much Has Nuclear Strategy Changed?; Does Tailored Deterrence Enhance the Credibility of Nuclear Deterrence or Increase the Risk of Nuclear Use?; Can Tailored Deterrence Provide Guidance in Determining the Size and Structure of the U.S. Nuclear Arsenal?; What Role for U.S. Nuclear Weapons?

Author : Nick Ritchie
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2008-08-08
Category : History
ISBN : 9781134036448

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US Nuclear Weapons Policy After the Cold War by Nick Ritchie Pdf

This book offers an in-depth examination of America’s nuclear weapons policy since the end of the Cold War. Exploring nuclear forces structure, arms control, regional planning and the weapons production complex, the volume identifies competing sets of ideas about nuclear weapons and domestic political constraints on major shifts in policy. It provides a detailed analysis of the complex evolution of policy, the factors affecting policy formulation, competing understandings of the role of nuclear weapons in US national security discourse, and the likely future direction of policy. The book argues that US policy has not proceeded in a linear, rational and internally consistent direction, and that it entered a second post-Cold War phase under President George W. Bush. However, domestic political processes and lack of political and military interest in America’s nuclear forces have constrained major shifts in nuclear weapons policy. This book will be of much interest to students of US foreign policy, nuclear proliferation, strategic studies and IR in general.

Author : Stephen J. Cimbala
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 145 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2006-03-10
Category : History
ISBN : 9781135990459

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Nuclear Weapons and Strategy by Stephen J. Cimbala Pdf

Nuclear weapons, once thought to have been marginalized by the end of the Cold War, have returned with a vengeance to the centre of US security concerns and to a world bereft of the old certainties of deterrence. This is a major analysis of these new strategic realities. The George W. Bush administration, having deposed the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, now points to a new nuclear "Axis of Evil": Iran and North Korea. These nations and other rogue states, as well as terrorists, may pose key threats because they are "beyond deterrence", which was based on the credible fear of retaliation after attack. This new study places these and other developments, such as the clear potential for a new nuclear arms race in Asia, within the context of evolving US security policy. Detailing the important milestones in the development of US nuclear strategy and considering the present and future security dilemmas related to nuclear weapons this is a major new contribution to our understanding of the present international climate and the future. Individual chapters are devoted to the key issues of missile defenses, nuclear proliferation and Israel’s nuclear deterrent. This book will be of great interest to all students and scholars of strategic studies, international relations and US foreign policy.

Author : U. S. Military,Department of Defense (Dod),Paul Brown
Publisher : Independently Published
Page : 68 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2019-01-27
Category : History
ISBN : 1795288159

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U.S. Nuclear Deterrence Policy: Do We Have It Right? Assessing American Nuclear Policy Based on Feasibility, Acceptability, and Suitability, Counterpo by U. S. Military,Department of Defense (Dod),Paul Brown Pdf

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?

Author : Robert G. Joseph,Ronald F. Lehman
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 4 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : National security
ISBN : MINN:30000005524255

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U.S. Nuclear Policy in the 21st Century by Robert G. Joseph,Ronald F. Lehman Pdf

Nuclear weapons will continue indefinitely to play an indispensable role in U.S. national security policy: as a hedge against uncertainties, to deter potential aggressors who are both more diverse and less predictable than in the past, and to allow the United States to construct a more stable security environment. Recent nuclear tests by India and Pakistan make it clear that nuclear weapons remain part of the security setting. The aggressive pursuit of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons by states such as Iran and North Korea underscores the role of deterrence as a central component of U.S. security strategy.

Author : Anonim
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
Page : 262 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 9781428981324

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U.S. nuclear policy in the 21st century a fresh look at national strategy and requirements: final report by Anonim Pdf

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.

Author : David Auerswald,John Gerard Ruggie
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 100 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 1990
Category : Nuclear weapons
ISBN : UCSD:31822007768260

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The Future of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy by David Auerswald,John Gerard Ruggie Pdf