Synopses & Reviews
In this book, Michael Krepon analyzes nuclear issues such as missile defenses, space warfare, and treaties, and argues that the United States is on a dangerous course. During the Cold War, Mutual Assured Destruction, or MAD, facilitated strategic arms control. Now that the Cold War has been replaced by asymmetric warfare, treaties based on nuclear overkill and national vulnerability are outdated and must be adapted to a far different world. A new strategic concept of Cooperative Threat Reduction is needed to replace MAD. A balance is needed that combines military might with strengthened treaty regimes.
Review
"This wise, valuable and timely book resonates with Michael Krepon's vast experience as a leading thinker and practitioner in the realm of national and international security. He combines vision and hard-headed practicality in taking on the questions of how we can live more safely in a world where the dangers, like everything else, are changing."--Strobe Talbott, President, The Brookings Institution
"Michael Krepon's book deals with what is arguably the most important security problem of our age - nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists or failed nations. His book, carefully researched and clearly written, makes a compelling case that cooperative threat reduction should have the first priority in America's national security agenda. And he describes
practical, specific programs that could respond to such a priority."--William J. Perry, 19th U.S. Secretary of Defense
"For more than three decades nuclear arms control was fairly simple--not very successful, but fairly simple. Michael Krepon shows in devastating detail how much more complex it has become and why, largely due to U. S. policy, it has become even less successful. 'Cooperative Threat Reduction' is both a book and an idea; both the book and the ideadeserve the serious attention of scholars, legislators, and arms strategists."--Tom Schelling
About the Author
Michael Krepon is the Founding President of the Henry L. Stimson Center. He is the author and editor of eight books including Global Confidence Building: New Tools for Troubled Regions.
Table of Contents
Introduction * The Paradigm Shifts * Prioritizing Threats and Responses * Missile Defense From the Cold War to Asymmetric Warfare * Vulnerability, Risk, and Missile Defense * Missile Defense and the Asian Cascade * Reassessing Strategic Arms Control * From MAD to Cooperative Threat Reduction * Fateful Choices