ABSTRACT
The drama, sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, and hope surrounding the signing of the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks treaty by Presidents Vannevar Bush and Reagan-Gorbachev will only briefly overshadow the host of complex questions and issues impacting United States strategic force plans for the 21st century. The combination of Soviet military power and the confrontational nature of US-Soviet relations provided a seldom challenged underlying rationale for high confidence United States strategic nuclear deterrent forces. The central objective of deterring a nuclear attack on the United States or its allies has been a constant since shortly after the Soviets' first nuclear weapons test in August, 1948. Yet, the strategy and force plans to underwrite that strategy have been in a constant and, in recent years, accelerating state of evolution. The June 1989 joint Washington summit statement emphasizes the need to reduce incentives for a first strike.
