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.

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Primers

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.

Documents

Date ▼	Title	File
1975-12-01	CRS, "Authority to order the use of nuclear weapons"	PDF

Bibliographies

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.

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

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.

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.

MacDonald, Eryn. "Whose Finger Is on the Button? Nuclear Launch Authority in the United States and Other Nations." Union of Concerned Scientists. October, 2017. https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2017/11/Launch-Authority.pdf.

Lewis, Patricia, Heather Williams, Benoît Pelopidas and Sasan Aghlani. Too Close for Comfort: Cases of Near Nuclear Use and Options for Policy. London: Chatham House, 2014. https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/field/field_document/20140428TooCloseforComfortNuclearUseLewisWilliamsPelopidasAghlani.pdf.

Hewlett Richard G., and Francis Duncan. Atomic Shield: A History of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Volume II, 1947-1952. Washington, DC: United States Atomic Energy Commission, 1969.

Gregory, Shaun R. Nuclear Command and Control in NATO: Nuclear Weapons Operations and the Strategy of Flexible Response. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996.

Gregory, Shaun R. "The Command and Control of British Tactical Nuclear Weapons." Defense Analysis 4, no. 1 (1988): 39-51.

Feiveson, Harold A (ed). The Nuclear Turning Point: A Blueprint for Deep Cuts and De-Alerting of Nuclear Weapons. Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 1999.

Conley, Jerome M. "Nuclear Command and Control in the Twenty-First Century: Trends, Disparities, and the Impact on Stability." In Debating 21st Century Nuclear Issues, edited by Owen Price and Jenifer Mackby, 226-250. Washington, D.C.: Center for International and Strategic Studies, 2007. https://www.csis.org/analysis/debating-21st-century-nuclear-issues.

Congressional Research Service. Authority to order the use of nuclear weapons (United States, United Kingdom, France, Soviet Union, People's Republic of China). Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 1975. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003216700/Home.

Burr, William. "Consultation is Presidential Business": Secret Understandings on the Use of Nuclear Weapons, 1950-1974. Electronic Briefing Book No. 159. Washington, D.C.: National Security Archive, 2005. https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB159/.

Born, Hans, Bates Gill, and Heiner Hänggi (eds). Governing the Bomb: Civilian Control and Democratic Accountability of Nuclear Weapons. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010.