Minimum Deterrence and its Critics

Abstract

Three things came to mind while writing "Remembrance of Things Past: The Enduring Value of Nuclear Weapons."1 First, the intent was to reinvigorate debate within the policy-making community regarding nuclear weapons; second, to introduce the idea of minimum deterrence;2 and third, to sketch out a force structure suitable for the United States to achieve minimum deterrence. Judging from the attention the article received, we were successful in our first bid, less successful in the second, and largely unsuccessful in our third.3 Before addressing our critics, it is important to clarify the meaning of "minimum deterrence" and specify how the number 311 was derived.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 2010
Accession Number
ADA533563

Entities

Organizations

  • Air University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Alliances
  • Capital Investments
  • Cold War
  • Deterrence
  • Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles
  • National Security
  • North Korea
  • Nuclear Energy Levels
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Ohio Class
  • Pakistan
  • Political Science
  • Second Strike Capability
  • Security
  • United States
  • Weapons

Readers

  • Graph Algorithms and Convex Optimization.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Strategic Security Studies