Topic Explorer

The Topic Explorer uses the same search and topic filters for all of the different resources on this site. It is meant to allow easy cross-examination of different issues.

Topics

1940s (29) 1950s (32) 1960s (43) 1970s (21) 1980s (17) 1990s (8) 2000s (5) 2010s (24) Bush, George W. (1) Carter, James (6) Chain of command (15) Civilian-military divide (22) Clinton, William J. (2) Congress (21) Congressional Research Service (4) Constitutionality (6) Custody (22) Cybersecurity (3) Directives (6) Doctrine (20) Early warning systems (17) Eisenhower, Dwight D. (20) Ford, Gerald R. (2) France (12) India (11) Israel (7) Johnson, Lyndon B. (11) Kennedy, John F. (24) Law of war (9) Missiles (6) NATO (21) News Media (18) Nixon, Richard M. (11) Non-Use (8) North Korea (10) Nuclear accidents (17) Nuclear football (17) Nuclear launch procedure (32) Nuclear safety (34) Nuclear war plans (31) Obama, Barack (8) Oral history (1) Overseas deployment (19) Pakistan (17) People's Republic of China (15) Permissive Action Links (23) Predelegation (17) Presidential nuclear control (57) RAND Corporation (4) Reagan, Ronald (8) Remedies (5) Russian Federation (16) South Africa (1) Soviet Union (23) Succession (3) Truman, Harry S. (21) Trump, Donald J. (18) Two-man rule (9) United Kingdom (19) United States of America (126) US Air Force (21) US Atomic Energy Commission (15) US Department of Defense (28) US Department of Energy (5) US Joint Chiefs of Staff (17) US National Security Council (7) US Secretary of Defense (11) US Strategic Air Command (15) US Strategic Command (15) World War II (8)

Primers

Two-man rule: A regulation that requires at least two people to be present at many stages of nuclear weapons operations and maintenance.
Presidential unilateral nuclear use authority under Truman: In the United States, the authority to use nuclear weapons is vested in the President of the United States.
Nuclear launch process: The nuclear launch process of the United States is a topic of high interest and importance but is also subject to considerable misunderstanding.

Documents

Date ▼	Title	File
2019-03-01	U.S. Nuclear Weapon Policy: Considering “No First Use”	PDF
2017-11-18	Halifax International Security Forum Transcript	PDF
2017-11-14	DOD Instruction 5210.42: DOD Nuclear Weapons Personnel Reliability Assurance	PDF
2017-11-14	Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing on Nuclear Weapons Authority	PDF
2017-11-14	Use of Nuclear Weapons Authority	PDF
2016-12	DOD Law of War Manual, June 2015 (updated December 2016)	PDF
2016-09-22	The Nuclear Necessity Principle	PDF
2015-05-19	USAF, Annex 3-72 Nuclear Operations	PDF
2014-10-02	USAF, Air Force Instruction 13-550 ("Air Force Nuclear Command, Control, and Communications")	PDF
2013-04-23	USAF, Air Force Instruction 91-104 (Two-Person Concept)	PDF
2010-04-08	New START	PDF
2010-04-06	2010 Nuclear Posture Review	PDF
1998-06-08	The History of Nuclear Weapon Safety Devices	PDF
1996-02-12	USJCS, "Nuclear Supplement to Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan For FY 1996"	PDF
1995-06-20	Written Statement of the Government of the United States (on the legality of nuclear weapons)	PDF
1988	The President and the Atomic Bomb: Who Approved the Trinity Nuclear Test	PDF
1987-08-21	National Security Decision Directive 281	PDF
1987-08-21	Reagan- U.S. Command and Control Directive	PDF
1985-01	The Command and Control of Nuclear War	PDF
1982-07	A Historical Study of Strategic Connectivity	PDF
1982-04-21	Soviet Command and Control for Warfighting	PDF
1978-02	OASOD, "History of the Custody and Deployment of Nuclear Weapons, July 1945 through September 1977"	PDF
1975-12-01	CRS, "Authority to order the use of nuclear weapons"	PDF
1975-09-04	DDRS, Jan Lodal of the NSC analyzes DOD comments on the President's letter to Senator Brooke concerning "First Use/First Strike."	PDF
1975-06	IDA, "The Evolution of U.S. Strategic Command and Control and Warning, 1945-1972"	PDF
1975	NSA, Categories of DOE designed PAL systems	PDF
1969-08-26	DOD, WSEG Report 148 - Strategic Offensive Weapons Employment in the Time Period About 1975	PDF
1969-08	Presidential Succession and the Authority to Release Nuclear Weapons	PDF
1968-06	DOD, Strategic Offensive Weapons Employment in the Presence of Defenses (WEPS)	PDF
1964-12-01	DDRS, Briefing to the Gilpatric Committee by William J. Howard	PDF

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Bibliographies

Zhao, Tong. Tides of Change: China's Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarines and Strategic Stability. Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 2018.

Young, Ken. "No Blank Cheque: Anglo-American (Mis)Understandings and the Use of the English Airbases." The Journal of Military History 71, no. 4 (October 2007): 1133-1167.

Yost, David S. "Nuclear Debates in France." Survival 36, no. 4 (1994): 113-139. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00396339408442766.

Wynn, Humphrey. RAF Nuclear Deterrent Forces: Their Origins, Roles, and Development 1946-1969. London: The Stationery Office (TSO), 1997.

Woolf, Amy F. and James D. Werner. The U.S. Nuclear Weapons Complex: Overview of Department of Energy Sites. CRS Report No. R45306. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, 2018. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/R45306.pdf.

Woolf, Amy F. Command and Control of Nuclear Forces. Defense Primer 7-5700. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service, 2016. https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/IF10521.pdf.

Woolf, Amy F. "Congress and US Nuclear Weapons: Review and Oversight of Policies and Programs." Nonproliferation Review 14, no. 3 (November 2007): 499-516,

Wilson, Edward. "Thank you Vasili Arkhipov, the man who stopped nuclear war." The Guardian. October 27, 2012. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/27/vasili-arkhipov-stopped-nuclear-war.

White, Richard B. "Command and Control of India's Nuclear Forces." The Nonproliferation Review 21, nos. 3-4 (2014): 261-274.

Wellerstein, Alex and Avner Cohen. "If Trump wants to use nuclear weapons, whether it’s ‘legal’ won’t matter." Washington Post, November 22, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/posteverything/wp/2017/11/22/if-trump-wants-to-use-nuclear-weapons-whether-its-legal-wont-matter/?utm_term=.b893af9d38d5.

Wellerstein, Alex. "No one can stop President Trump from using nuclear weapons. That's by design." Washington Post, December 1, 2016. https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2016/12/01/no-one-can-stop-president-trump-from-using-nuclear-weapons-thats-by-design/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.05b5b6a7fe06.

Wellerstein, Alex. "The President and the Bomb." The Nuclear Secrecy Blog. November 18th, 2016. http://blog.nuclearsecrecy.com/2016/11/18/the-president-and-the-bomb/.

Walker, J. Samuel. Prompt and Utter Destruction: Truman and the Use of Atomic Bombs Against Japan. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2004.

Wald, Matthew L. "Bomb Plants Could Shift to Control of Pentagon." New York Times, February 6, 2009. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/07/washington/07nuke.html.

Twigge, Stephen and Len Scott. Planning Armageddon: Britain, the United States, and the Command of Western Nuclear Forces, 1945-1964. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 2000.

Twigge, Stephen and Len Scott. "Learning to Love the Bomb: The Command and Control of British Nuclear Forces, 1953–1964." The Journal of Strategic Studies 22, no. 1 (March 1999): 29-53.

Trachtenberg, Marc. A Constructed Peace: The Making of the European Settlement, 1945-1953. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999.

Tannenwald, Nina. The Nuclear Taboo: The United States and the Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons since 1945. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Tannenwald, Nina. "Nuclear Weapons and the Vietnam War." Journal of Strategic Studies 29, no. 4 (August 2006): 675-722,

Tamkin, Emily. "Lawmakers Introduce Bill Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons." Foreign Policy. January 24, 2017. https://foreignpolicy.com/2017/01/24/senator-and-congressman-introduce-restricting-first-use-of-nuclear-weapons-act-trump/?utm_campaign=New+Campaign&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_term=%2AEditors+Picks.

Stokes, Mark A. China’s Nuclear Warhead Storage and Handling System. Arlington, VA: Project 2049 Institute, 2010. https://project2049.net/2010/03/12/chinas-nuclear-warhead-storage-and-handling-system/.

Stein, Peter and Peter Feaver. Assuring Control of Nuclear Weapons: The Evolution of Permissive Action Links. Cambridge, MA: Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University, 1987.

Snyder, Don, Sarah A. Nowak, Mahyar A. Amouzegar, Julie Kim, and Richard Mesic. Sustaining the U.S. Air Force Nuclear Mission. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2013. https://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/TR1240.html.

Smith, Alice K. A Peril and a Hope: The Scientists' Movement in America: 1945-47. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1965.

Slocombe, Walter B. Democratic Civilian Control of Nuclear Weapons. Policy Paper no. 12. Geneva: Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), 2006. https://www.dcaf.ch/sites/default/files/publications/documents/pp12_democratic_civilian_control_nuclear_weapons.pdf.

Singh, Robert S. "The United States Congress and Nuclear War Powers: Explaining Legislative Nonfeasance." The Journal of Legislative Studies 24, no. 3 (2018): 298-314.

Seng, Jordan. "Less is more: Command and Control Advantages of Minor Nuclear States." Security Studies 6, no. 4 (summer 1997) 50-92.

Schwartz, Stephen I. Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons since 1940. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 1998.

Schlosser, Eric. Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety. New York: The Penguin Press, 2013.

Scarry, Elaine. Thermonuclear Monarchy: Choosing between Democracy and Doom. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2014.

Sagan, Scott D. The Limits of Safety: Organizations, Accidents, and Nuclear Weapons. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1993.

Sagan, Scott D. Moving Targets, Nuclear Strategy, and National Security. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989.

Sagan, Scott D. "SIOP-62: The Nuclear War Plan Briefing to President Kennedy." International Security 12, no. 1 (Summer, 1987): 22-51.

Sagan, Scott D. "Nuclear Alerts and Crisis Management," International Security 9, no. 4 (Spring 1985): 99-139.

Rubel, John H. Doomsday Delayed: USAF Strategic Weapons Doctrine and SIOP-62, 1959-1962. Lanham, Maryland: Hamilton Books, 2008.

Rosenberg, David A. "The Origins of Overkill: Nuclear Weapons and American Strategy, 1945-1960." International Security 7, no. 4 (Spring 1983): 3-71.

Rosenbaum, Ron. "An Unsung Hero of the Nuclear Age: Maj. Harold Hering and the forbidden question that cost him his career." Slate, February 28, 2011. http://www.slate.com/articles/life/the_spectator/2011/02/an_unsung_hero_of_the_nuclear_age.single.html.

Roman, Peter J. “Ike’s Hair‐trigger: U.S. Nuclear Predelegation, 1953–60.” Security Studies 7, no. 4 (June 1998): 121–164.

Rogoway, Tyler. "Pentagon May Replace Its Doomsday Planes And 'Air Force Two' With One New Type." The Drive. June 24, 2017. http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/11207/pentagon-may-replace-its-doomsday-planes-and-air-force-two-with-one-new-type.

Raven-Hansen, Peter. "Nuclear War Powers." The American Journal of International Law 83, no. 4 (October 1989): 786-795.

Podvig, Pavel. "Risks of Nuclear Command and Control Accidents." In Understanding Nuclear Risks, edited by John Borrie, Tim Caughley, and Wilfred Wan, 53-59. Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), 2017. http://www.unidir.org/files/publications/pdfs/understanding-nuclear-weapon-risks-en-676.pdf.

Podvig, Pavel (ed). Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2004.

Podvig, Pavel. "History and the Current Status of the Russian Early-Warning System." Science and Global Security 10 (2002): 21-60. https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/publications/history_and_the_current_status_of_the_russian_earlywarning_system.

Perrow, Charles. Normal Accidents: Living with High-Risk Technologies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999.

Pearson, David E. The World Wide Military Command and Control System: Evolution and Effectiveness. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, 2000.

Pearson, David E. "Strategic Command and Control in the 1990s." Defense Analysis 7, no. 4 (1991): 373—399.

Paul, T.V. The Tradition of Non-Use of Nuclear Weapons. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009.

Paul, Septimus H. Nuclear Rivals: Anglo-American Atomic Relations, 1941-1952. Columbus: Ohio State University Press, 2000.

Pakenham, W.T.T. Naval Command and Control. Brassey's Sea Power: Naval Vessels, Weapons Systems and Technology Series, Vol. 8. London: Brassey's, 1989.

Nuño, Frank and Vaughn Standley. "Bolt Out of the Blue: Nuclear Attack Warning in the Era of Information and Cyber Warfare." War on the Rocks. June 14, 2018. https://warontherocks.com/2018/06/bolt-out-of-the-blue-nuclear-attack-warning-in-the-era-of-information-and-cyber-warfare/.

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