Rich’s Reviews > Modern Strategy > Status Update

"...we know little reliable about the strategic effect of nuclear weapons. The problem, of course, is that the jewel in the crown of successful strategic performance in the nuclear era, deterrence, 'manifests' itself only negatively in actions not taken."

"There is no nuclear strategy that in execution would not entail costs, and pose risks, that any sane and sober person would far prefer not to run. But the official world of modern strategy had no practicable choice other than to try to cope with weapons that could not reliably be tamed for good Clausewitzian purpose as tools of high policy."

"There is considerable danger that the making of nuclear strategy and the practice of nuclear deterrence will be misjudged by historians who lack empathy in their scholarly forays into the nuclear archives."