The necessity to ramp up long overdue modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, combined with an escalating disarmament policy shift under the Obama administration, has once again brought the discussion of deterrence to the forefront of military strategy debates. In the recent spring edition of Air and Space Power Journal, three articles describe the challenges to and outline solutions for the U.S. nuclear posture. Dr. Keith B. Payne, professor and head of the Graduate Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at Missouri State University, describes how nuclear disarmament, or the delay or abandonment of triad modernization, expressed by reductionists and abolitionists does not hold up to scrutiny. The nuclear reduction advocates' main claim is that a unilateral arms reduction by the U.S. will lead to other nations following suit.  Contrary to these predictions, U.S. reduction in nuclear capacity by over 80% since the end of the Cold War, with further reductions...(Read Full Article)