Dangerous doctrine

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Volumn 61, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 38-49

  Speed, Roger ^a,b   May, Michael ^a,c  

^a LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY   (United States)

^b STANFORD UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c Stanford University   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33645739884     PISSN: 00963402     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2968/061002012     Document Type: Article

References (7)

1. Statement by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein on low-yield nuclear weapons, Congressional Record-Senate, May 20, 2003, S6664.
2. Jay Davis (former director, Defense Threat Reduction Agency), personal communication. The authors are indebted to him for several important technical commentaries.
3. A 5-kiloton explosion at a depth of 5 meters would, within 24 hours, produce a radiation dose that would kill 50 percent of the people over an area of about 15 square kilometers. Significant health hazards (including death for some part of the population) would exist over a much larger area.
4. Keith B. Payne, "The Nuclear Jitters," National Review, June 30, 2003, pp. 22-25.
5. One might also wonder why deterrence has not yet failed, since these states have had WMD for some time.
6. The Bush administration agrees that the overwhelming U.S. conventional capability and its demonstrated willingness to use this power encourages proliferation among "rogue" states, but argues that these rogue states acquire weapons not to deter U.S. aggression, but only in order to commit aggression themselves (and to deter the United States from protecting itself or its allies). An Assessment of the Impact of Repeal of the Prohibition on Low-Yield Warhead Development on the Ability of the United States to Achieve Its Nonproliferation Objectives, Joint Report to Congress, (Washington, D.C.: Energy Department, Defense Department, State Department, March 2004), p. 4. This argument might be taken more seriously if the administration did not couple its military power with a strategy of preventive war, a strategy recently demonstrated in Iraq.
7. Terrorists could also acquire such materials from individuals or factions in friendly or reasonably friendly states.