Myron a Greenberg

Physics and Metaphysics of Deterrence: the British Approach: Naval War College Newport Papers 8 Myron a Greenberg

Publisher Marketing: The principal findings of this study are that Great Britain's search for an independent nuclear deterrent was waged with a purposeful dedication that wedded highly effective statecraft and brilliant, innovative nuclear engineering to produce a strategic nuclear deterrent that remained under her sovereign control. Because Britain's efforts in this area were so often achieved in the face of United States' opposition, Britain's subsequent utilization of her deterrent capability as an instrument to secure American support, notwithstanding that opposition, ought to be considered an example of successful policy management. The product of this effort has been the Anglo-American "special relationship" in nuclear weapons. The demonstrable success of British policy management to nurture and secure the special relationship in nuclear weapons is confirmed by its endurance in the face of American indifference, if not overt hostility, to its continuation. A major contention of this inquiry, therefore, is that the independent nature of Britain's strategic nuclear deterrent has been the primary prerequisite for the evolution of an interdependent, hence "special," relationship with the United States. This relationship will endure, for it must; the physics and metaphysics of strategic relationships in the thermonuclear age will secure this constancy. In the meantime, Britain will play a far greater role internationally than heretofore, just as the special relationship binds her ever closer to the United States. And this, after all, has always been a principal objective of British policy. Contributor Bio:  Press, Naval War College Thomas G. Mahnken is Professor of Strategy at the U. S. Naval War College. He served formerly in the Defense Department's Office of Net Assessment as a member of the Secretary of the Air Force's Gulf War Air Power Survey and as a National Security Fellow at the John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies at Harvard University. Professor Mahnken is a graduate of the University of Southern California with degrees in history and international relations, and he earned his MA and Ph. D in international affairs from The Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. He is the author of Uncovering Ways of War: U. S. Intelligence and Foreign Military Innovation, 1918-1941 (Cornell University Press, 2002) and co-editor of The Journal of Strategic Studies. He has written numerous journal articles on strategy, intelligence, and military transformation. James R. FitzSimonds is a research professor with the War Gaming Department of the U. S. Naval War College, where he holds the EMC Corporation Chair of Information Technology. Professor FitzSimonds retired from the U. S. Navy as a captain in 2001 after a 27-year career in surface line and intelligence. His sea service included duty in USS Blakely (FF-1072), USS Enterprise (CVN-65), and the staff of Cruiser-Destroyer Group Two/USS America (CV-66) Battle Group. His shore assignments included tours with the Chief of Naval Operations Current Intelligence Division, the Navy Operational Intelligence Center Detachment (Newport), the CNO Strategic Studies Group, and the Defense Department's Office of Net Assessment. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and earned his MS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.