Rethinking the Unthinkable: Selective Proliferation and US Nuclear Strategy

This study comprises an analysis of US strategy and the need to improve global nuclear surety through selective proliferation of nuclear weapons technology and expertise. The author assesses the greatest threat to the US to be an attack from a terrorist organization using a nuclear weapon and the resultant implications such an attack has on globalization. The author concludes the US needs to be prepared to lead global nuclear surety efforts, and these efforts should include the selective proliferation of the more than 65 years of hard earned expertise and technology. The US is the standard for nuclear surety, and it is only through partnership that global nuclear surety can be obtained in a world where states continue to proliferate and increase the size of their arsenals regardless of global pressure to the contrary. The writer evaluates three cases of states, France, India and Pakistan, which have chosen to proliferate. He then applies the lessons learned from these cases to a hypothetical case of a new state, Turkey, choosing to proliferate nuclear weapons. The final section of the study includes a discussion of key areas where the US can be prepared to partner to enhance global nuclear surety in the future.