The Nature of Deterrence

Abstract

During the past four years the Reagan administration has been building on the enduring strengths of our national character to revitalize America's global leadership, national morale, economic strength, and military power. In his second term President Ronald Reagan will address pressing national security questions and will consider new directions in policy. Now is an appropriate time to assess the lessons of the previous four years and, where necessary, adjust the course for the next four. In our free society national security issues are debated by the people. These debates contrast markedly with Soviet society, where the principal policy objective is to preserve the state's totalitarian power and where the decisions are made by a small ruling elite. Because free discussion is essential in a democracy, I have entered the public debate concerning defense issues. I traveled to England to debate the issue of deterrence at the Oxford Union and have participated in several discussions on U.S. national television. I conferred with the National Conference of Catholic Bishops as they deliberated on their pastoral letter on war and peace, responding later to the major points in that document in a talk at Fordham University. Because there are parallels between many of the bishops' principles and our nation's policy, a review of the bishops' arguments is instructive. Our national policy and the bishops' letter are both based on a "presumption in favor of peace and against war." Together we reject offensive war; together we acknowledge that all nations have "a right and even a duty to