ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the current military balance between the East, led by the Soviet Union, and the West, led by the United States. It also outlines the problem of nuclear weapons proliferation, the potential for nuclear terrorism, and current US and Soviet nuclear defense capabilities. The direct benefits of deterrence are difficult to measure. They could be measured in terms of the 'benefits' of avoiding the costs that would be incurred as a result of a nuclear war. However, such benefits involve avoiding human and other losses that cannot be adequately measured in dollars. Indirect benefits have little to do with deterrence or other possible military purposes of nuclear weapons, but the evidence indicates that they have often influenced the allocation of resources to deterrent forces. In discussing deterrence, it is important to keep in mind that "the power to deter is the power to deter a particular adversary in a particular situation".
