New Uses of Nuclear Weapons: Bunker Busting and Agent Defeat
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- The 2001 Nuclear Posture Review suggests two new roles for nuclear weapons: bunker busting and agent defeat. Nuclear weapons have been proposed for these missions because the have a unique explosive capability beyond that of any conventional explosives, and their heat and radiation are what can deactivate stored biological or chemical agents. This paper asks, when are nuclear weapons a necessary and effective solution to the threat of buried WMD targets? Through technical analysis of targets and scenarios, bunker busting and agent defeat, and nuclear weapons vs. alternatives, this paper concludes that new nuclear capabilities can have only a limited role. They are not effective in tactical strikes, and they are useful in only a couple of nightmare scenarios. Even in those cases, there are sometimes effective alternatives to the nuclear option. If preventive strikes remain a strategy of last resort, then nuclear weapons can remain a weapon of last resort, preserving the nuclear threshold.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | May 30, 2003 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Haldeman, Zachary |
|---|---|
| Primary advisor | May, Mike |
| Advisor | Eden, Lynn |
Subjects
| Subject | Center for International Security and Cooperation |
|---|---|
| Subject | CISAC |
| Subject | security |
| Subject | nuclear weapons |
| Subject | bunker busting |
| Subject | agent defeat |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
Access conditions
- Use and reproduction
- User agrees that, where applicable, content will not be used to identify or to otherwise infringe the privacy or confidentiality rights of individuals. Content distributed via the Stanford Digital Repository may be subject to additional license and use restrictions applied by the depositor.
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Haldeman, Zachary. (2003). New Uses of Nuclear Weapons: Bunker Busting and Agent Defeat. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: http://purl.stanford.edu/jp200jr3023
Collection
Stanford University, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Interschool Honors Program in International Security Studies, Theses
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