ABSTRACT
Every known nuclear weapon has been designed and assembled in a state program, through institutions funded by the state and subject to state authority. The resultant nuclear warheads remain-in princiP ple-under the exclusive continuing control of the state which ordered them made. Those concerned-political figures, managers, designers, builders, and military deployers-have conducted an extended but shrouded discussion of the weapons’ capabilities and utilities. In each nuclear weapons state, they have reached a consensual negotiated poP sition that nuclear weapons are justified-indeed, necessary-despite their costs and risks. Generations of political leaders and civil serP vants have committed to that view. Any proposal to turn away from nuclear forces would require explaining why costly and consequential choices made in the past were no longer correct, or had been in some measure unsound when made.
