The Politics Of Threat: Minuteman Vulnerability In American National Security Policy ([southampton Studies In International Policy])

This work analyses the vulnerability of America's land-based missile force to a pre-emptive Soviet strike as an issue in US strategic and political debate. It examines why the issue rose to prominence in the way it did in the 1970s and then fell away as a concern in the 1980s without being solved in the way it had been presented. It details the way in which the issue was exploited for political and strategic purposes which were often at odds with a concern for this vulnerability. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction....Pages 1-5 Front Matter....Pages 7-7 ICBM Vulnerability: The Development of an Issue....Pages 9-30 SALT I and Minuteman Vulnerability: An Issue Established....Pages 31-45 Strategic Innovation and ICBM Vulnerability: Evaluating the Threat to Minuteman....Pages 46-63 Vladivostok, Nitze and the Vulnerability Scenario....Pages 64-79 Front Matter....Pages 81-81 Carter, His Critics and the Politicisation of the Issue....Pages 83-90 Carter, the MX and the Window of Vulnerability: The Political Context....Pages 91-123 Front Matter....Pages 125-125 The Window of Vulnerability, Strategic Modernisation and the Townes Committee....Pages 127-138 Reaction to the Townes Committee Report....Pages 139-160 The President’s Commission on Strategic Forces....Pages 161-187 Reactions to the Commission’s Recommendations....Pages 188-210 Conclusions....Pages 211-221 Back Matter....Pages 222-289 The threat of a Soviet pre-emptive strike on America's land-based missile force was an issue that gripped American security policy throughout the 1970s; under Reagan, the issue disappeared. This study demonstrates that it was kept alive as justification for various strategic and political purposes, and it was allayed once the American political mood had changed. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or. In the SOUTHAMPTON STUDIES IN INTERNATIONAL POLICY series an analysis of the vulnerability of America's land-based missile force to a pre-emptive Soviet strike as an issue in US strategic and political debate. Examines the predominance of this idea in the 1970s, and how it was exploited for political and strategic puposes. David H. Dunn ; Foreword By Lawrence Freedman. Series Statement From Jacket. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 224-236) And Index.