I can tell by the replies that most people are not aware of our nuclear doctrine (that has been hidden since it was made public). We leave the option open to use either Tactical or Theatre nuclear weapons for a wide range of reasons, some intentionally ambiguous.
"
1) The US defense strategy serves the national objective of peace with
prosperity. The strategy aims to achieve four key goals that guide the development of US
force capabilities, their development and use:
(a) Assuring allies and friends of the US steadfastness of purpose and its
capability to fulfill its security commitments.
(b) Dissuading adversaries from undertaking programs or operations that
could threaten US interests or those of our allies and friends.
(c) Deterring aggression and coercion by deploying forward the capacity to
swiftly defeat attacks and imposing severe penalties for aggression on an adversary’s
military capability and supporting infrastructure.
(d) Decisively defeating an adversary if deterrence fails.
(2) The size, composition, and readiness posture of US nuclear forces contribute
to each of these four goals."
Scary stuff.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/policy/dod/jp3_12fc2.pdf
Edit history
Recommendations
0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):
= new reply since forum marked as read