Risk and Uncertainty in Soviet Deliberations about War.

Abstract

This report surveys the elements of risk, uncertainty, and unpredictability that might moderate Soviet behavior and undermine the confidence with which Soviet decisionmakers would consider entering into a major military engagement with the United States. Although the report does not question the substantial threat implications of Soviet force improvements that have been under way in recent years, it does describe certain realities of Soviet style and leadership concern about possible Soviet military inadequacies that make the more ominous features of Soviet doctrine and force development appear somewhat less alarming. The analysis is based on a combination of evidence suggested by past Soviet crisis behavior, information offered in Soviet literature concerning troop management and training, and interferences from known or suspected Soviet political practices, organizational characteristics, and operational concerns. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 1981
Accession Number
ADA108044

Entities

People

  • Benjamin S. Lambeth

Organizations

  • RAND Corporation

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Human Systems
  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Command And Control
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Doctrine
  • Foreign Policy
  • Military Doctrine
  • Military Organizations
  • Military Science
  • Motivation
  • National Security
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Psychology
  • Reliability
  • Threat Evaluation
  • United States
  • Vulnerability
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Instructional Design and Training Evaluation.
  • Strategic Security Studies