From Counterforce to Minimal Deterrence: A New Nuclear Policy on the Path Toward Eliminating Nuclear Weapons

Robert S. Norris is a senior research associate with the Natural Resources Defense Council nuclear program and director of the Nuclear Weapons Databook project. He is co-editor of the Nuclear Weapons Databook series, the five-volume definitive encyclopedia of the nuclear weapons of the United States, Ivan Oelrich is vice president for Strategic Security Programs at the Federation of American Scientists. He is the author of Missions for Nuclear Weapons after the Cold War (FAS, 2005). He was previously with the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), where he evaluated new technologies for defense applications and supported the Cover image: As a pure counterforce weapon, the B61-11 nuclear earth-penetrating gravity bomb would be retired under the minimal nuclear deterrence policy proposed by this report. i The authors wish to express their appreciation of the assistance provided by Matthew McKinzie, a scientist with the NRDC nuclear program, who conducted damage and casualty analysis for the targeting section of the report. Finally, we would like to express our appreciation to a number of outside reviewers who provided valuable comments and suggestions but wish to remain anonymous.