ABSTRACT
Conventional wisdom holds that the possession of nuclear weapons offers states security from a number of international threats. In particular, the possession of nuclear weapons insulates a state from challenges to its most salient concerns (such as territorial integrity). While ultimately beneficial to proliferators, the path to nuclear status is generally neither instantaneous nor undetectable. As such, it behooves states that wish to challenge proliferators to realize their political goals sooner rather than later. Proliferators, on the other hand, have an incentive to delay the resolution of the contentious issue until the deployment of their nuclear weapons.
