The Moral Dimension of National Security.

Abstract

This memorandum considers the moral dimensions of US nuclear deterrence strategy and involvement in the Third World. The authors maintain that the existence of nuclear weapons in the suspicious and potentially unstable superpower relationship precludes any unilateral US move away from its current retaliatory posture. US attempts to develop a limited warfighting ability are viewed as efforts to deter the full range of Soviet nuclear options and, if deterrence should fail, limit the destructiveness of the US response against Soviet counterforce targets in keeping with the moral imperatives of proportionality and discrimination. They conclude that US support for human rights, especially when couched in terms consistent with international norms of behavior expressed in the UN Charter and the Helsinki Final Act, is not an invasion of national sovereignty. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 01, 1983
Accession Number
ADA127421

Entities

People

  • Christopher J. Tragakis
  • John M. Weinstein

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • El Salvador
  • Foreign Policy
  • Governments
  • Human Rights
  • International Law
  • International Relations
  • International Security
  • Law
  • National Governments
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Political Science
  • Political Systems
  • Security
  • United States
  • Ussr

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Strategic Security Studies
  • Theoretical Analysis.