ABSTRACT
Taking the protection of Western Europe as a model for the protection of the United States’ intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) force, there are good historical reasons why the role of extended deterrence has always been prominent enough in the former case yet all but ignored in the latter. And obviously for extended deterrence to be of any use in an era of parity of capability it will be essential to play skillfully upon Soviet perceptions of what the consequences would be of an attack on the United States’ ICBM force. Nothing so elaborate however is required to discover that in one very important respect extending deterrence to protect the United States’ ICBM force is easier than extending deterrence to protect Western Europe. The natural response (and the natural deterrent) to a small attack on a few ICBM bases is a similar counter-attack on Soviet ICBM bases.
