Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO (Enlarged Edition)

Tactical Nuclear Weapons and NATO (Enlarged Edition)

Author: Thomas M. Nichols

Publisher:

Published: 2013-05-26

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781304074850

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"NATO has been a "nuclear" alliance since its inception. Nuclear weapons have served the dual purpose of being part of NATO military planning as well as being central to the Alliance's deterrence strategy. For over 4 decades, NATO allies sought to find conventional and nuclear forces, doctrines, and agreed strategies that linked the defense of Europe to that of the United States. Still, in light of the evolving security situation, the Alliance must now consider the role and future of tactical or non-strategic nuclear weapons (NSNWs). Two clear conclusions emerge from this analysis. First, in the more than 2 decades since the end of the Cold War, the problem itself -- that is, the question of what to do with weapons designed in a previous century for the possibility of a World War III against a military alliance that no longer exists -- is understudied, both inside and outside of government. Tactical weapons, although less awesome than their strategic siblings, carry significant security and political risks, and they have not received the attention that is commensurate to their importance. Second, it is clear that whatever the future of these arms, the status quo is unacceptable. It is past the time for NATO to make more resolute decisions, find a coherent strategy, and formulate more definite plans about its nuclear status. Consequently, decisions about the role of nuclear weapons within the Alliance and the associated supporting analysis are fundamental to the future identity of NATO. At the Lisbon Summit in Portugal in November 2010, the Alliance agreed to conduct the Deterrence and Defense Posture Review (DDPR). This effort is designed to answer these difficult questions prior to the upcoming NATO Summit in May 2012. The United States and its closest allies must define future threats and, in doing so, clarify NATO's identity, purpose, and corresponding force requirements. So far, NATO remains a "nuclear alliance," but it is increasingly hard to define what that means."--Publisher's website


The Future of Extended Deterrence

The Future of Extended Deterrence

Author: Stéfanie von Hlatky

Publisher: Georgetown University Press

Published: 2015-09-01

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 1626162662

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Are NATO’s mutual security commitments strong enough today to deter all adversaries? Is the nuclear umbrella as credible as it was during the Cold War? Backed by the full range of US and allied military capabilities, NATO’s mutual defense treaty has been enormously successful, but today’s commitments are strained by military budget cuts and antinuclear sentiment. The United States has also shifted its focus away from European security during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and more recently with the Asia rebalance. Will a resurgent Russia change this? The Future of Extended Deterrence brings together experts and scholars from the policy and academic worlds to provide a theoretically rich and detailed analysis of post–Cold War nuclear weapons policy, nuclear deterrence, alliance commitments, nonproliferation, and missile defense in NATO but with implications far beyond. The contributors analyze not only American policy and ideas but also the ways NATO members interpret their own continued political and strategic role in the alliance. In-depth and multifaceted, The Future of Extended Deterrence is an essential resource for policy practitioners and scholars of nuclear deterrence, arms control, missile defense, and the NATO alliance.


The Culture of Military Innovation

The Culture of Military Innovation

Author: Dmitry (Dima) Adamsky

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2010-01-27

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0804773807

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This book studies the impact of cultural factors on the course of military innovations. One would expect that countries accustomed to similar technologies would undergo analogous changes in their perception of and approach to warfare. However, the intellectual history of the Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) in Russia, the US, and Israel indicates the opposite. The US developed technology and weaponry for about a decade without reconceptualizing the existing paradigm about the nature of warfare. Soviet 'new theory of victory' represented a conceptualization which chronologically preceded technological procurement. Israel was the first to utilize the weaponry on the battlefield, but was the last to develop a conceptual framework that acknowledged its revolutionary implications. Utilizing primary sources that had previously been completely inaccessible, and borrowing methods of analysis from political science, history, anthropology, and cognitive psychology, this book suggests a cultural explanation for this puzzling transformation in warfare. The Culture of Military Innovation offers a systematic, thorough, and unique analytical approach that may well be applicable in other perplexing strategic situations. Though framed in the context of specific historical experience, the insights of this book reveal important implications related to conventional, subconventional, and nonconventional security issues. It is therefore an ideal reference work for practitioners, scholars, teachers, and students of security studies.


A New Nuclear Century

A New Nuclear Century

Author: Stephen J. Cimbala

Publisher: Praeger

Published: 2002-05-30

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 0275970612

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This text examines the issues related to the control of nuclear weapons in the early 21st century. These issues are technical and policy oriented, so the authors seek to provide readers with a fuller, more accurate understanding of the issues involved.


Monitoring Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear-Explosive Materials

Monitoring Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear-Explosive Materials

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2005-04-15

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 0309181216

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In this study, CISAC tackles the technical dimensions of a longstanding controversy: To what extent could existing and plausibly attainable measures for transparency and monitoring make possible the verification of all nuclear weaponsâ€"strategic and nonstrategic, deployed and nondeployedâ€"plus the nuclear-explosive components and materials that are their essential ingredients? The committee's assessment of the technical and organizational possibilities suggests a more optimistic conclusion than most of those concerned with these issues might have expected.


Non-Strategic Nuclear Weapons

Non-Strategic Nuclear Weapons

Author: Amy F. Woolf

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2010-10

Total Pages: 31

ISBN-13: 1437922317

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Contents: (1) Intro.; (2) Distinction Between Strategic and Non-Strategic Nuclear Weapons (NNW); (3) U.S. and Soviet NNW: (a) U.S. NNW During the Cold War; (b) Soviet NNW During the Cold War; (c) 1991 Presidential Nuclear Initiatives; (d) U.S. NNW after the Cold War; (e) Russian NNW after the Cold War; (f) Changing the Focus of the Debate; (4) Issues for Congress: (a) Issues: Safety and Security of Russian NNW; The Role of NNW in Russia¿s National Security Policy; The Role of NNW in U.S. National Security Policy; The Role of NNW in NATO Policy and Alliance Strategy; The Relationship Between NNW and U.S. Nonproliferation Policy; (b) Policy Options: Status Quo; Reduce Reliance on Nuclear Weapons; Cooperative Responses.


The Opportunity

The Opportunity

Author: Steven Pifer

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2012-10-05

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 0815724306

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For some observers, nuclear arms control is either a relic of the cold war, or a utopian dream about a denuclearized planet decades in the future. But, as Brookings scholars Steven Pifer and Michael O'Hanlon argue in The Opportunity, arms control can address some key security challenges facing Washington today and enhance both American and global security. Pifer and O'Hanlon make a compelling case for further arms control measures—to reduce the nuclear threat to the United States and its allies, to strengthen strategic stability, to promote greater transparency regarding secretive nuclear arsenals, to create the possibility for significant defense budget savings, to bolster American credibility in the fight to curb nuclear proliferation, and to build a stronger and more sustainable U.S.-Russia relationship. President Obama gave priority to nuclear arms control early in his first term and, by all accounts, would like to be transformational on these questions. Can there be another major U.S.-Russia arms treaty? Can the tactical and surplus strategic nuclear warheads that have so far escaped controls be brought into such a framework? Can a modus vivendi be reached between the two countries on missile defense? And what of multilateral accords on nuclear testing and production of fissile materials for nuclear weapons? Pifer and O'Hanlon concisely frame the issues, the background, and the choices facing the president; provide practical policy recommendations, and put it all in clear and readable prose that will be easily understood by the layman.


Five Myths about Nuclear Weapons

Five Myths about Nuclear Weapons

Author: Ward Wilson

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 205

ISBN-13: 054785787X

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Expanded from an article that created a stir in foreign policy circles, this book shows why five central arguments promoting nuclear weapons are, in essence, myths.


The Future of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy

The Future of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Policy

Author: Committee on International Security and Arms Control

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1997-07-01

Total Pages: 119

ISBN-13: 0309518377

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The debate about appropriate purposes and policies for U.S. nuclear weapons has been under way since the beginning of the nuclear age. With the end of the Cold War, the debate has entered a new phase, propelled by the post-Cold War transformations of the international political landscape. This volume--based on an exhaustive reexamination of issues addressed in The Future of the U.S.-Soviet Nuclear Relationship (NRC, 1991)--describes the state to which U.S. and Russian nuclear forces and policies have evolved since the Cold War ended. The book evaluates a regime of progressive constraints for future U.S. nuclear weapons policy that includes further reductions in nuclear forces, changes in nuclear operations to preserve deterrence but enhance operational safety, and measures to help prevent proliferation of nuclear weapons. In addition, it examines the conditions and means by which comprehensive nuclear disarmament could become feasible and desirable.


Russia's Crumbling Tactical Nuclear Weapons Complex

Russia's Crumbling Tactical Nuclear Weapons Complex

Author: Stephen P. Lambert

Publisher:

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 64

ISBN-13:

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As politicians and policy makers trumpet the successes of strategic reductions and the achievements of the START agreements, Russia has increasingly focused on a rhetorical and doctrinal campaign to enhance the credibility of nuclear war fighting threats by legitimizing theater or tactical nuclear systems. The Russian Federation is convinced that its security rests upon these weapons, and it has therefore attempted to shield both the personnel and the hardware from the effects of the military rollback. The notion that the two largest possessors of nuclear weapons could speedily draw down their arsenals to under 2000 warheads, as a START 3 regime suggests, is misguided. This ignores the thousands of so called tactical nuclear weapons possessed by both states. The very real threats associated with Russia's tactical nuclear arsenal should impel those with genuine concerns to redirect their efforts toward the lower end of nuclear weapons spectrum. The arms control proposal presented in this paper incorporates a regime calling for the elimination of air delivered tactical nuclear weapons that may prove to be a useful model for reinvigorating the stalled process of nuclear arms reductions.