deterrence

On the Eve of Destruction: Breaking the Double-Bind of the Nuclear Arms Race

by Richard Rhodes

Politicians and defense contractors who wanted American nuclear supremacy won out over scientists seeking international effort to contain the extinction-level threat posed by thermonuclear weapons, even to the point of denying the planet-destroying power of the H-bomb. 

The History of Deterrence and Its Current Decline

by Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr.

Since WWII, the United States has put deterrence at the core of its defense strategy. Now technological and geographical changes might change that.