Forecasting Zero: U.S. Nuclear History and the Low Probability of Disarmament

Abstract

When four luminaries of U.S. policymaking - Cold Warriors, all - penned a 2007 op-ed calling for global nuclear disarmament, a shock wave emanated through the policy community in Washington and abroad. Had age or the stress of public life finally taken its toll on these elder statesmen? How could the goal of disarmament be practically achieved? Was their plea, in fact, a cynical ploy to strengthen a conventionally dominant United States? Were not communist sympathizers, naive world government types, or a periodically randy anti-nuclear movement the only ones who took disarmament seriously? Perhaps most important, did their statement reflect a convergence of sentiment in the United States in favor of abolition? Might the United States abolish nuclear weapons in our lifetime?

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Nov 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA555141

Entities

People

  • Jonathan Pearl

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Arms Control
  • Arms Control Treaties
  • Delphi Method
  • Foreign Relations
  • Governments
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Nuclear Energy
  • Nuclear Fuels
  • Nuclear Materials
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • Prompt Global Strike
  • Treaties
  • United States
  • War Colleges
  • Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Strategic Security Studies