First Strike Nuclear Capability: Is It a Sound Defense Policy?
Charles L. Glaser and Steve Fetter

The spread of nuclear weapons to potential US adversaries raises important questions for US nuclear strategy and foreign policy. During the Cold War, US nuclear strategy was designed to meet the challenges posed by the Soviet Union, a superpower adversary with an enormous nuclear arsenal. Today, the United States faces a strikingly different environment. A few regional adversaries have acquired or are attempting to acquire a small number of nuclear weapons and the ability to deliver them at long range. Few would disagree that the United States should attempt to deter nuclear attacks by threatening to inflict unacceptably high costs with nuclear retaliation. But should it also plan to use nuclear weapons to destroy an adversary’s nuclear weapons in either a preemptive or retaliatory strike? Although current US nuclear strategy says yes, the question has not been thoroughly studied. Read more >>