ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the effect the Assured Vulnerability model of deterrence has had upon the United States strategic force posture. The Assured Vulnerability model of deterrence has been a primary basis for determining the character of the United States strategic force posture and declaratory policy since the mid-1960s. US Strategic declaratory policy and force deployments since the mid-1960s indicate that the United States doctrine has been determined in large part by the Assured Vulnerability deterrence model. The critics of ballistic missile defense (BMD) expressed their belief that they had a firm understanding of the motives behind Soviet strategic acquisition and deployment policy; they contended that the maintenance of an assured destruction type retaliatory threat was basis of Soviet policy. The "arms race critique" of BMD was based upon the Assured Vulnerability assumption of a doctrinally inspired action-reaction arms race dynamic.
