America's Nuclear Crossroads; A Forward-Looking Anthology

Washington DC: Cato Institute, 2019. Presumed First Edition. Trade paperback. xii, 147, [1] pages. Gomez business card laid in. Includes Foreword, Introduction, Notes, About the Contributors, and About the Editors. Topics covered include Managing Nuclear Modernization Costs; Missile Defense and the Future of Nuclear Stability; The Risks a War in Space Poses for Nuclear Stability on Earth; U.S. and Russian Nuclear Strategies: Lowering Thresholds, Intentionally and Otherwise; U.S. Nuclear Strategy toward China: Damage Limitation and Extended Deterrence; The Future of Extended Deterrence; Are New U.S. Nuclear Weapons Necessary?; Nuclear Blackmail: The Threat from North Korea and Iran; Preserving the U.S. Arms Control Legacy in the Trump Era; and The Impact of the Nuclear Weapons Ban Movement on Arms Control and Nonproliferation. Released in July 2019, the anthology examines a wide variety of pressing issues in nuclear deterrence and arms control confronting U.S. policymakers at the dawn of a new era of great power competition. Contributors include Caroline Dorminey, Beatrice Fihn, Matther Herrmann, Eric Gomez, Todd Harrison, Austin Long, Janne E. Nolan, Olga Oliker, Todd S. Sechser, and Maggie Tennis. Caroline Dorminey was a policy analyst in defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. She worked on issues pertaining to the US defense budget, defense politics, force structure, and the international arms trade. Eric Gomez is a policy analyst for defense and foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute. His research focuses on U.S. military strategy in East Asia, missile defense systems and their impact on strategic stability, and nuclear deterrence issues in East Asia. He has presented research on these topics at annual meetings of the International Studies Association and the American Political Science Association, and the 2018 Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) Fall Conference. Eric is the co editor and an author, with Caroline Dorminey, of America’s Nuclear Crossroads: A Forward Looking Anthology.

As the United States adjusts to a changing global balance of power, nuclear deterrence is poised to return to a level of importance in U.S. national security not seen since the end of the Cold War. However, U.S. nuclear strategy will have to contend with emerging issues like arms control in a multipolar world, the evolution of strategic technology, and the new contours of great power competition.

After more than a decade spent grappling with the challenges of irregular warfare and violent extremism, the U.S. national security community has largely shifted its collective attention to interstate power politics. Nuclear weapons figure prominently in this new reality. The 2018 Nuclear Posture Review prompted Americans to contemplate the use of nuclear weapons by either the United States or its potential adversaries in a future conflict in Europe or Asia. Even before the Trump administration gave voice to this shift, the United States had already embarked on a costly, long-delayed modernization of major elements of its nuclear arsenal. All three legs of the “triad” of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-armed manned aircraft, and submarine- launched ballistic missiles will be updated.

According to some observers, these developments reflect the emergence of a new Cold War. For others, the challenge is not how best to engage in “strategic competition,” but how to avoid backsliding into outmoded analogies and concepts. As with any debate, there are elements of truth on both sides. Russia and China have both shown themselves to have regional aspirations, and possibly global ambitions, that are at odds with the aims of U.S. foreign policy. Russia’s annexation of Crimea was a turning point for many analysts within the U.S. national security community, demonstrating the Putin regime’s willingness to engage in the almost antiquated practice of territorial conquest. In the Asia-Pacific region, China’s aggressiveness in its maritime periphery has frustrated the efforts of successive U.S. presidential administrations to integrate China into a U.S.-led economic and political order.

America’s Nuclear Crossroads: A Forward-Looking Anthology is a useful reference tool for policymakers and laypeople alike as they navigate an increasingly complex nuclear security environment. The debates and policy decisions that play out over the next few years will likely affect America’s nuclear deterrence and arms control strategies for decades to come. This anthology offers a wide view of the most pressing challenges the United States is facing at this crossroads. While it cannot resolve every emerging problem, we hope America’s Nuclear Crossroads sparks a broader dialogue and offers some initial recommendations for solving said challenges. The contributors to this volume question and potentially recast some of the fundamental assumptions underlying both the theory and practice of nuclear deterrence. Each chapter challenges some element of the conventional wisdom and makes the case for a fresh look at how the United States leverages its nuclear and nonnuclear military assets to deter aggression against itself and its allies and partners. The volume also raises questions pertaining to some challenges, such as new technologies and new players, that lack clear historical parallels. Equally striking is the diversity of professional backgrounds and perspectives among the contributors, who represent the next generation of scholars and practitioners. While no consensus can emerge from such a diverse group of thinkers, every contributor engages in a refreshing and rigorous interrogation of tough questions, with a firm grounding in the latest research and historically informed analysis.
Condition: Very good.

Keywords: Nuclear Modernization Costs, Missile Defense, Nuclear Stability, Nuclear Strategies, Deterrence, Arms Control in the Trump Era, Arms Control and Nonproliferation, Beatrice Fihn, Matther Herrmann, Todd Harrison, Austin Long, Janne E. Nolan, Olga Olike

ISBN: 9781948647700

[Book #79112]

Price: $35.00

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