Nuclear Deterrence

09

Dec

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Deterrence & Foreign Policy, Emerging Threats, Engage, Huessy Seminaradam lowther, cold war, deterrence policy, deterrence reality gap, dynamite, evolution of U.S. nuclear deterrence strategy, historical context, Hollywood myths, misconceptions in movies, narratives, National Institute for Deterrence Studies. ​, National Security, NIDS, Nuclear Deterrence, Oppenheimer, Peter Huessy, popular films, preventing large-scale conflict, public perceptions, seminar

Hollywood vs. Reality: Nuclear Deterrence in the Age of Dynamite and Oppenheimer-Huessy Seminar

Peter Huessy & Adam Lowther0 Comments

Hosted by the National Institute for Deterrence Studies (NIDS), this seminar explores how popular films and narratives shape public perceptions of nuclear deterrence—and how those portrayals often diverge from reality.…

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04

Dec

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Defense & Security, Emerging Threats, Strategic Adversariesacquired color vision deficiency, Air Force 711th Human Performance Wing, always/never reliability, CAD color vision test, cognitive psychology, color blindness, color vision, D-15 test, delivery platforms, demon core incident, Deterrence Posture, engineers, FAA standards, fallible humans, high-consequence systems, human element, human error, human factors, human performance, human reliability, industrial-organizational psychology, Ishihara test, national laboratories, Nuclear Deterrence, Nuclear Weapons, Pantex Plant, physicists, psychology, QMU, quantification of margins and uncertainty, Rabin test, red-green deficiency, sabotage, Sandia National Laboratories, Titan II missile explosion, tool slips, Tritan defect, Waggoner Computerized Color Vision Test, WCCVT, weakest link

Meet the Human in Nuclear Deterrence

Robert Kittinger0 Comments

Not long ago, uttering words like “human element” or “psychology” at a physics or engineering national laboratory would make scientists’ eyes roll. Their silence was a clear “does not compute”…

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27

Nov

Archive, Podcast, Strategic AdversariesChina, defense, Deterrence, global security, Nuclear Deterrence, Podcast, readiness, regional security, Taiwan, The NIDS VIew

The NIDS View Podcast: Regional Security Under Pressure: Japan, Taiwan, and the Future of Deterrence

Adam Lowther & Curtis McGiffin0 Comments

In this episode, Adam and Curtis discuss the implications of Japan's new Prime Minister on regional security, regarding Taiwan and China, and supporting their ally, America. They examine the historical…

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13

Nov

Archive, Arms Control & Nonproliferation, Bonus Reads, Defense & Security, Strategic AdversariesArms Control Association, capability, Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, computational simulation, containment preparations, deterrence theory, dynamic parity, explosive testing, modernization, moratorium, National Security, national strategy, Nevada National Security Sites, nuclear arsenal, Nuclear Deterrence, nuclear policy, nuclear testing, physics-based modeling, proxy testing, resolve, simulation, strategic clarity, strategic signaling, underground detonations, underground testing

“Resumption of Nuclear Testing”—Not So Fast!

James Petrosky0 Comments

On October 29, 2025, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he “instructed the Department of War to start testing our Nuclear Weapons on an equal basis.” This statement,…

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03

Nov

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Deterrence & Foreign Policy, Strategic AdversariesAl Udeid Air Base, Arab partners, Center for International Strategic Studies, CISS, collective security, conventional weapons, cybersecurity, defense cooperation, defense industry collaboration, defense production, Deterrence Posture, Doha, drone technology, economic integration, foreign exchange reserves, Gulf States, hamas, India, international law, interoperability, Islamabad, Israeli air raid, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, KSA, Masoud Pezeshkian, Middle East, military alliance, Muslim world, mutual defense pact, Nuclear Deterrence, nuclear umbrella, oil imports, Pakistan, Qatar, regional security, regional security architecture., regional stability, remittances, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, SMDA, space-based defense, strategic autonomy, strategic depth, strategic mutual defense agreement, technology transfer, United Nations General Assembly, United States, Vision 2030

Understanding the Pakistan–Saudi Defense Agreement

Nawal Nawaz0 Comments

Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) signed a strategic mutual defense agreement (SMDA) on September 17, 2025, cementing a decades-long security partnership between Islamabad and Riyadh. This new…

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27

Oct

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Strategic AdversariesAgni-Prime, air defense systems, Arms Control, Balochistan Think Tank Network, BUITEMS Quetta, bunker-buster missile, Cold Start doctrine, confidence-building measures, conventional superiority, conventional warfare, counterforce capability, crisis management, cyber warfare, deterrence stability, escalation dominance, full-spectrum deterrence, India, India-Pakistan conflict, international diplomacy, limited war, Military Doctrine, military modernization, missile defense, Nuclear Deterrence, nuclear escalation, nuclear posture, nuclear-capable missiles, Operation Sindoor, Pakistan, rail-based launcher, regional stability, retaliatory capability, security dilemma, South Asia, space capabilities, strategic affairs, strategic autonomy, strategic signaling, technological development

India’s Strategy of Escalation Dominance

Sher Ali Kakar & Atta Ullah0 Comments

Recent, statements by Indian Air Force Chief Marshal AP Singh and Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi reflect how India’s military doctrine is transforming, which, in recent years, has undergone…

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20

Oct

Archive, Arms Control & Nonproliferation, Bonus Reads, Strategic AdversariesAdmiral Richard statement, allied security, Americas, Arms Control, Arms Race, Chinese nuclear buildup, cold war, Deterrence, deterrence failure, deterrence gap, deterrence resilience, deterrence theory, extended deterrence, global competition, great power rivalry, Harold Brown quote, ICBMs, intercontinental ballistic missiles, minimum deterrence, National Institute for Deterrence Studies. ​, New START, nuclear abolition, nuclear abolition movement, nuclear blackmail, nuclear coercion, nuclear coercion threat, Nuclear Deterrence, nuclear force development, nuclear modernization, nuclear modernization programs, nuclear parity, nuclear proliferation, nuclear stability, nuclear strategy, nuclear superiority, nuclear triad, Russian nuclear buildup, slcm-n, Soviet Union, START Treaty, strategic arms limitation, strategic balance, strategic deterrence, strategic posture, Strategic Posture Commission, theater nuclear forces, U.S. defense policy, U.S. nuclear policy, unilateral freeze, Warsaw Pact

Making Nuclear Blackmail Great Again

Peter Huessy0 Comments

After World War I, the United States and its allies sought arms control solutions to what were political problems. Proposals such as a ban on war and restrictions on the…

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14

Oct

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Bonus Reads, Strategic Adversariesarms escalation, conventional balance, conventional deterrence, crisis stability, defense preparedness, deterrence adaptation, deterrence credibility, deterrence credibility gap, deterrence erosion, deterrence escalation management, deterrence failure, Deterrence modernization, deterrence psychology, deterrence theory, escalation control, escalation ladder, forceful versus non-forceful deterrence, Germany military aid, incremental warfare, International Security, limits of deterrence, Military Doctrine, mutual destruction, non-nuclear forces, Nuclear Deterrence, nuclear red lines, nuclear signaling, nuclear strategy, nuclear threshold, Operation Spyder Web, Russia-Ukraine war, Russian nuclear doctrine 2024, stability-instability paradox, strategic competition, strategic culture, strategic deterrence, tactical nuclear weapons, Ukraine counteroffensive, war thresholds

The Russia-Ukraine Conflict Showcases the Limits of Nuclear Deterrence

Anshu Kumar0 Comments

Russia’s potential use of nuclear weapons early in the Ukraine conflict presents an interesting dilemma. For many analysts, this conflict exemplifies the limits of nuclear deterrence, an issue worth exploring.…

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25

Sep

AI & Deterrence, Archive, Strategic AdversariesAmerican Deterrence, American nuclear posture, Arms Control, drones, first-strike, monitoring, Nuclear Deterrence, sUAS, surveillance, UAS

The Role of Drones in Nuclear Deterrence

Stephen Cimbala & Adam Lowther0 Comments

  Although the war in Ukraine firmly established the utility of drones in warfare, the relationship between drones and nuclear deterrence is still a largely unsettled topic. Suggesting that they…

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11

Sep

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Arms Control & Nonproliferation, Defense & Security, Deterrence & Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, Emerging Threats, Strategic AdversariesAfghanistan, Arms Control, Atomic, China, cold war, Deterrence, global security, Hezbollah, ICBM, India, Iran, Israel, Japan, Middle East, National Security, Nuclear Deterrence, Nuclear Weapons, Russia, security, Syria, Taliban, Terrorism, Title 22, UN

Deterring Nuclear Terrorism in the Era of Great Power Competition

Alexis Schlotterback0 Comments

As the Cold War ended and new counterterrorism priorities took root in the 2000s, the threat of nuclear terrorism cemented itself as the ultimate catastrophic scenario. Dick Cheney famously stated…

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12

Aug

Allies & Extended Deterrence, Archive, Arms Control & Nonproliferation, Defense & SecurityCampaign, China, civilian populations, commander in chief, deterrence credibility, deterrence strategy, disarmament campaign, extended deterrence, hair trigger alert, Human Security Lab, impetuous, Law of War Manual, legality, NFU strategy, No First Use, nuclear abolitionists, Nuclear Deterrence, nuclear modernization, Nuclear Weapons, Peter Huessy, president's authority, recklessness, Russia, sole authority, targeting cities, United Nations treaty, University of Massachusetts

The Campaign to End Nuclear Deterrence

Peter Huessy0 Comments

The campaign to prevent the US from deploying nuclear weapons as a deterrent is in full swing. It expanded from opposing the first use of nuclear weapons to opposing all…

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