ABSTRACT
The US maintains a nuclear stockpile on the order of 30,000 weapons. US force levels have been consistently greater than assured destruction levels largely because nuclear forces have also been given the mission of deterring a Soviet non-nuclear attack. Massive retaliation developed major credibility problems in the early 1960s when the Soviet Union deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of hitting American cities. The end of the Cold War does not end the need to maintain credible nuclear deterrent forces. The International Nuclear Forces treaty and the end of the Warsaw Pact as a military alliance have brought about the elimination of US and Soviet intermediate range nuclear missiles. The breakup of the Warsaw Pact and the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Eastern Europe has eliminated the need to maintain a high-credibility threat of the early first use of nuclear weapons against a Soviet invasion.
