Gaffney On The NPR
Defense policy expert Frank Gaffney discusses the leak of classified portions of the most recent Nuclear Posture Review in this article. Gaffney intimates that the leaks come from and are popularized by those sympathetic to the (mistaken) arms-control policies of the previous administration:
Such critics hope, therefore, that they can mobilize a public and congressional outcry over parts of the NPR that had, until last Saturday, been classified. Yet, on closer inspection, the objects of their criticism appear not only reasonable, but far more responsible than the approaches long advocated by anti-nuclear activists like William Arkin, to whom the NPR was leaked and who in turn provided this secret document to the media. . . .Gaffney's conclusions regarding the credibility of deterrence theory sound remarkably familiar:
These are the sorts of prudent, reasonable and, in all likelihood, absolutely necessary measures that must be taken now if there is to be any chance in the future of deterring regimes, and perhaps terrorists, equipped with weapons of mass destruction. Their adoption as part of the NPR does not mean the United States is bent on using nuclear weapons. Rather, it means the responsible adults now in charge understand that for deterrence to work, it must be based on real, credible and sustainable capabilities, not bluffs, a hollowed-out military and bankrupt arms control nostrums.
[Posted at 21:37 CST on 03/12/02] [Link]
