It’s time to jettison Nuclear Posture Reviews

Abstract

Nuclear Posture Reviews have served a useful purpose but their moment has passed. The existing architecture of Pentagon policy and posture reviews has failed to deliver the needed responses to the new strategic environment. A different approach is needed, one that embeds decisions about nuclear policy and posture in a coherent defense strategy that integrates rather than disaggregates the tools of influence. It must also embed those decisions in a realistic appraisal of the goals of US strategic policy, as legacy approaches have come to a series of dead-ends.