New paradigm for understanding nuclear strategy. Study project

Technical Report · Thu Apr 04 00:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5482592

Dixon, J C

With the end of the Cold War as we have known it since the late 1940s and the apparent success of U.S. containment policy, old, familiar questions demand answers in a new and unfamiliar context. The Cold War is over but the Nuclear Age is not; nuclear weapons cannot be disinvented. Collapse of the Warsaw Pact and dramatic reduction of tensions between the United States and the USSR compel re-examination of fundamental strategy issues. What is the purpose of nuclear weapons. How should we plan for their use. What kinds of weapons and delivery systems should we develop and deploy. How many should we have. Why have any. This essay does not seek to provide a comprehensive review of nuclear strategy since 1945, nor does it provide detailed recommendations for future strategy. Rather, it introduces a new paradigm, a new structure, a new set of lenses, which permits the strategist to seek old familiar information in a different context. Taking strategy to include ends, ways, and means, the new paradigm introduced herein interprets the past 45 years as three discernible time periods, each with a different characteristic.

• Research Organization: Army War Coll., Carlisle Barracks, PA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 5482592
• Report Number(s): AD-A-234225/1/XAB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

98 NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT, SAFEGUARDS, AND PHYSICAL PROTECTION
45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
MILITARY STRATEGY
DELIVERY
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
REDUCTION
USA
USSR
WEAPONS
ASIA
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
EUROPE
NORTH AMERICA
350000* - Arms Control- (1987-)
450400 - Military Technology
Weaponry
& National Defense- Nuclear & Radiological Warfare- (1990-)