The overarching question imparting urgency to this exploration is: Can U.S.-Russian contention in cyberspace cause the two nuclear superpowers to stumble into war? In considering this question we were constantly reminded of recent comments by a prominent U.S. arms control expert: At least as dangerous as the risk of an actual cyberattack, he observed, is cyber operations’ “blurring of the line between peace and war.” Or, as Nye wrote, “in the cyber realm, the difference between a weapon and a non-weapon may come down to a single line of code, or simply the intent of a computer program’s user.”
Thomas M. Nichols will present a Managing the Atom Seminar entitled "Nuclear War with Small States" on Tuesday February 1, 2011 beginning at 9:30am in the Belfer Center library.
During the Cold War, U.S. nuclear strategy was focused on inflicting unacceptable, even total, destruction on the Soviet Union during a global war for national survival. But with the Cold War over, and new nuclear states such as North Korea emerging, what are the practical—and moral--implications of a nuclear exchange with a small nation surrounded by innocent third parties? Do nuclear weapons continue to have any use beyond the protection of the U.S. and its allies from existential destruction?