Countering the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Case for Strategic Preemption

The declaratory policy of the United States is to prevent the acquisition of Weapons of Mass Destruction WMD and their delivery systems. The United States has been hesitant to use military force to preempt the acquisition of WMD even with recalcitrant proliferators whose intentions and demonstrated behavior are counter to the interests of the U.S. This paper outlines the case for backing our declared policy with more aggressive counter-proliferation actions, and describes those cases where preemptive conventional military actions are not only appropriate, but are in the best long term interests of the United States.