Toward True Security

By Blair, Bruce G.

Book Id: WPLBN0000108132
Format Type: PDF eBook
File Size: 0.4 MB
Reproduction Date: 2008

Title:	Toward True Security
Author:	Blair, Bruce G.
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Government publications, Legislation., Government Printing Office (U.S.)
Collections:	Government Library Collection
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	Government Printing Office


Citation APA MLA Chicago Blair, B. G. (n.d.). Toward True Security. Retrieved from http://self.gutenberg.org/

Excerpt
Excerpt: This report proposes a nuclear weapons policy for the United States for the next decade that reflects today’s political and strategic realities. By contrast, the official policies and doctrines of both the United States and Russia are mired in Cold War patterns of thought. Eleven years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, both countries still maintain massive nuclear arsenals ready for nearly instant use. Although nuclear war plans differ in size and detail from those drawn up 20 or more years ago, their basic structure remains unchanged. The US nuclear arsenal and doctrine were designed to deter a deliberate large-scale Soviet nuclear attack on the United States and a massive Soviet conventional attack on US European allies, as well as to preserve the option of a disarming fi rst strike against Soviet nuclear forces. This force structure and doctrine are obsolete and jeopardize American national security. The greatest nuclear danger to the United States today and in the near future is a Russian attack resulting from an error in Russia’s warning system or a failure in its command-and-control system. The current US policy of maintaining large numbers of highly accurate nuclear weapons that can be launched promptly to attack Russia’s nuclear forces stands in the way of reducing this risk. So too would the US deployment of any missile defense system that Russia believes capable of intercepting a significant number of its survivable strategic missiles, thereby undermining its nuclear deterrent.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements v 1. The Proposal in Brief 1 The Need for Wider Debate 2 A Nuclear Posture for the Next Decade 3 The Future 4 2. The Problem 5 Dangers from Russia 5 Future Russian Dangers 7 Threats from China 8 Future Chinese Threats 9 Threats from Other Countries 10 3. The Solution 13 Goals of US Nuclear Posture for the Next 5–10 Years 13 Specifi c Recommendations 14 Looking Ahead 27 Contributors 29