No Use: Nuclear Weapons and U.S. National Security

by Thomas M. Nichols

For more than forty years, the United States has maintained a public commitment to nuclear disarmament, and every president from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama has gradually reduced the size of America's nuclear forces. Yet even now, over two decades after the end of the Cold War, the United States maintains a huge nuclear arsenal on high alert and ready for war. The Americans, like the Russians, the Chinese, and other major nuclear powers, continue to retain a deep faith in the political and military value of nuclear force, and this belief remains enshrined at the center of U.S. defense policy regardless of the radical changes that have taken place in international politics.In "No Use," national security scholar Thomas M. Nichols offers a lucid, accessible reexamination of the role of nuclear weapons and their prominence in U.S. security strategy. Nichols explains why strategies built for the Cold War have survived into the twenty-first century, and he illustrates how America's nearly unshakable belief in the utility of nuclear arms has hindered U.S. and international attempts to slow the nuclear programs of volatile regimes in North Korea and Iran. From a solid historical foundation, Nichols makes the compelling argument that to end the danger of worldwide nuclear holocaust, the United States must take the lead in abandoning unrealistic threats of nuclear force and then create a new and more stable approach to deterrence for the twenty-first century.

232 pages, Unknown Binding

First published November 20, 2013

About the author

Dr. Thomas M. Nichols is a professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College and an adjunct professor in the Harvard Extension School. He also taught at Dartmouth College, Georgetown University (where he earned his PhD), and other schools and lecture programs.

He is currently a Senior Associate of the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, and a Fellow of the International History Institute at Boston University.

He has also been a Fellow of the International Security Program and the Project on Managing the Atom at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

In his Washington days, Professor Nichols was a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a consultant to the U.S. government, and a research analyst for private industry. Later, he served as personal staff for foreign and defense affairs to the late U.S. Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very readable, efficient, academic study of what has been done and what should be done with nuclear weapons since the end of the Cold War. Way out of area for me, but I got a lot out of it. Great stuff on an extremely important subject.

[Kameron · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was "ok." There's a useful history of publicly-released Nuclear Posture Reviews, but Nichols' strong feelings shade much of the book's content. To his credit, this is a quick and approachable read with great notes pages.

[Ahmad Hesham · Rating 5 out of 5]

A concise and brief introduction to the elephant in the room in modern warfare— involving global powers. Perhaps the book is of more relevance now than when I read it some years ago. With the ongoing situation in Ukraine, one is inclined to consider the possibility of this book being a prophecy rather than a mere speculation or some shelved academic publication. In any case, reading it has been a pleasure; Quite informative and worthwhile.