Nuclear Strategy

This chapter raises the following main points: Contemporary nuclear strategy is influenced by its Cold War history, especially Washington’s response to the growth of Soviet military power between the 1940s and 1980s.The 1950s US strategy of ‘Massive Retaliation’ became viewed as suicidal, and thus lacking credibility as a deterrent. Massive Retaliation was replaced with ‘Flexible Response’. This called for a supposedly more usable range of limited and selective targeting options.The idea of mutual assured destruction suggested the use of nuclear weapons was politically unthinkable.In the post-Cold War era of the 1990s three concerns shaped American nuclear planning: the maintenance of a hedge against a potentially resurgent Russia; deterrence of China; and deterrence of ‘rogue’ states.The primary objective of US nuclear strategy remains deterrence of nuclear attack on the US, with its weapons seen as insurance in the face of an uncertain future.The other nuclear-armed states differ in their approach to nuclear strategy in matters of detail. However, they all say their approach is shaped by the needs of deterrence.