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The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact mandates fundamentally rethinking the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. military and foreign policy. This monograph represents a prescriptive and judgmental examination of U.S. options for revising its nuclear strategy and force structure in the post-Cold War era. The author argues that the United States should become less dependent upon nuclear weapons as instruments of policy. The challenge is to encourage nuclear forces to "wither away" while maintaining nuclear capability should the need arise. This study begins with a discussion of U.S. foreign policy objectives and how nuclear weapons are likely to fit in. It then focuses on the various "nuclear futures" that could evolve and how the United States ought to operate and employ nuclear forces in the future. Finally, it discusses the kind of nuclear forces the U.S. ought to maintain for the foreseeable future and how its overall nuclear strategy should develop.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation Monograph report series. The monograph/report was a product of the RAND Corporation from 1993 to 2003. RAND monograph/reports presented major research findings that addressed the challenges facing the public and private sectors. They included executive summaries, technical documentation, and synthesis pieces.
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