Analyze how nuclear weapons changed strategic thinking about warfare and the utility of
the military instrument of power, and their likely impact on the world today and in the
future.
• Evaluate classical and current
...
Analyze how nuclear weapons changed strategic thinking about warfare and the utility of
the military instrument of power, and their likely impact on the world today and in the
future.
• Evaluate classical and current theories of coercion, compellence, and deterrence, how
they affect all instruments of power, and assess their applicability in today’s international
security environment.
• Analyze how the Cold War backdrop and the threat of Soviet aggression, along with
nuclear weapons theory, affected the mindset of President John F. Kennedy regarding the
use of nuclear weapons and the other instruments of power.
Issues for Consideration:
1. Has the development of nuclear weapons influenced your conception of the nature of the
military instrument, how it works, and its utility in various circumstances? If not, why
not, and if so, how?
2. Are nuclear weapons fundamentally different from other weapons? How did they affect
military thought and practice during the Cold War, and what is their impact today?
3. Is deterrence theory different from other theories about the use of the military instrument
of power? If so, how, and are the differences important? If not, why not?
4. Have the theories of deterrence changed sufficiently to reflect the post-Cold War strategic
environment? Explain.
5. What should be the purpose of the US nuclear arsenal?
6. What problems might civilian and military leaders face when fighting a country that has
nuclear weapons?
7. What role did the information instrument of power play in Kennedy’s decision-making
regarding Berlin?
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8. What were the key assumptions underpinning Kennedy’s October 1961 first-strike plan?
How valid were they?
9. What role did deterrence theory play in the advice that Kennedy received regarding the
Berlin crisis and the possible use of nuclear weapons? Whose advice was the best?
Why?
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