Conclusions

Abstract

The aim of this study has been to examine the evolution of the debate over the pre-launch vulnerability of the US force of land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles to a Soviet pre-emptive strike within the American political and strategic debate. More specifically the study asks why the issue of Minuteman vulnerability rose to prominence in the way it did in the late 1970s during the Carter Presidency and fell away as an issue in the early 1980s under President Reagan without any apparent solution to the problem as it had come to be defined. It also seeks to determine what this episode tells us about the US strategic and political debate. Why did this rather arcane threat construction play such a prominent and enduring role in these debates?KeywordsPolicy ProcessPolitical DebateWeapon SystemReagan AdministrationProcurement ProcessThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.