ABSTRACT
Nuclear weapons are subject to the discipline of geography and, therefore, geostrategy. Nuclear crisis management in a digital age requires flexible thinking and war planning, including planning for the unexpected and for nonlinear or chaotic outcomes. Nuclear weapons have outlived the Cold War and survived into the information age. The nuclear and cyber realms seem worlds apart. Nuclear weapons are the ultimate weapons for mass destruction. Missile defenses have been among the most contentious issues as between the United States and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on one side and Russia on the other. The historical case study of the 'war scare' of 1983 between NATO and Russia is suggestive, although not dispositive or definitive, about the problems of misperception during nuclear crisis, and about the behavior of intelligence bureaucracies faced with idiosyncratic threat perceptions on the part of some policy makers and other actors.
