ABSTRACT
The US national security strategy (NSS) aims at 'replacing traditional state-centred US non-proliferation approach with one that – for the first time – privileges counterproliferation and explicitly acknowledges prospective requirements for preemption'. The transition from non-proliferation policy to counterproliferation takes place after the acquisition by a state of one or a few nuclear weapons, or the equivalent in biological and chemical weapons. The NSS makes a direct reference to the utility of nuclear deterrence. It has often been questioned whether deterrence by the threat of retaliation would be enough to cope in a ‘world characterized by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction’ and leaders that may be less than rational. The Project for the New American Century identified the need for new nuclear weapons to target deep underground, hardened bunkers; the need to maintain nuclear superiority; and the need to develop a system of global missile defences.
