Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-fnpn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-26T13:06:21.520Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Controlling Theatre Nuclear War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2009

Desmond Ball
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Over the past decade, both official defence establishments and independent strategic analysts have devoted increasing attention to the command, control, communications and intelligence (C3I) systems which support the US and Soviet strategic nuclear forces, and to the role of these systems in crises and in strategic nuclear war-fighting. In particular, specific consideration has been given to such critical issues as the extent to which current strategic C3I systems enhance crisis stability or instability, and whether or not they would serve to control escalation in the event of a strategic nuclear exchange or, because of their vulnerabilities, would in fact contribute to the dynamics of the escalation process.

Type
Articles
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , July 1989 , pp. 303 - 327
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Bracken, Paul, The Command and Control of Nuclear Forces (New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press, 1983).Google Scholar

2 Blair, Bruce G., Strategic Command and Control: Redefining the Nuclear Threat (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1985).Google Scholar

3 Steinbruner, John, ‘Nuclear Decapitation’, Foreign Policy, No. 45 (Winter 1981–1982), 16–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

4 Steinbruner, , ‘Nuclear Decapitation’, p. 19.Google Scholar

5 Ball, Desmond, Can Nuclear War Be Controlled? Adelphi Paper No. 169 (London: The International Institute for Strategic Studies, 1981).Google Scholar

6 Ford, Daniel, The Button: The Nuclear Trigger — Does It Work? (London: Unwin, 1986).Google Scholar

7 Some noteworthy exceptions to this observation are Gregory, Shaun, ‘The Command and Control of British Nuclear Weapons’ (Peace Research Report No. 13, School of Peace Research, University of Bradford, 12 1986)Google Scholar; Charles, Daniel, Nuclear Planning in NATO: Pitfalls of First Use (Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger, 1987)Google Scholar; and Kelleher, Catherine McArdle, ‘NATO Nuclear Operations’, in Carter, Ashton B., Steinbruner, John D. and Zraket, Charles A., eds, Managing Nuclear Operations (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1987), pp. 445–69.Google Scholar

8 General Ellis, Richard C., in ‘Seminar on Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence’ (Program of Information Resources Policy, Harvard University, 1982), p. 2.Google Scholar

9 US Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Armed Services, Hearings on Military Posture and H.R. 5968 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1982), Part 3, p. 991.Google Scholar

10 US Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations, Department of Defense Appropriations for 1987 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1986), Part 1, p. 159.Google Scholar

11 US Congress, Department of Defense Appropriations for 1987, p. 140.Google Scholar

12 See Ball, Desmond, ‘Nuclear War at Sea’, International Security, 10 (1985/1986), 3–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13 Charles, , Nuclear Planning in NATO, p. 19.Google Scholar

14 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization: Facts and Figures (Brussels: NATO Information Service, 1984), Chaps 4 and 5Google Scholar; and NATO Handbook (Brussels: NATO Information Service, 1986).Google Scholar

15 NATO Handbook, p. 35.Google Scholar

16 See Figures 1, 2 and 3 in Ball, Desmond, ‘Controlling Theater Nuclear War’Google Scholar, in Schaerf, , Holdon, and Carlton, , eds, New Technologies and the Arms RaceGoogle Scholar, derived from The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation: Facts and Figures, pp. 102–12.Google Scholar

17 Charles, , Nuclear Planning in Europe, pp. 127–8.Google Scholar

18 Gregory, , The Command and Control of British Nuclear Weapons, pp. 92–3.Google Scholar

19 Gregory, , The Command and Control of British Nuclear Weapons, pp. 85–6.Google Scholar

20 Gregory, , The Command and Control of British Nuclear Weapons, p. 86.Google Scholar

21 Charles, , Nuclear Planning in Europe, p. 128.Google Scholar

22 Gregory, , The Command and Control of British Nuclear Weapons, p. 99.Google Scholar

23 Gregory, , The Command and Control of British Nuclear Weapons, p. 100.Google Scholar

24 Feazel, Michael, ‘NATO debates electronic warfare spending levels’, Aviation Week and Space Technology, 2 04 1984, pp. 62–5Google Scholar; ‘Choice of common frequency emerges as major IFF issue’, Aviation Week and Space Technology, 21 05 1984, p. 98Google Scholar; and ‘US, NATO agree in principle on IFF frequencies approach’, Aviation Week and Space Technology, 8 10 1984, p. 27.Google Scholar

25 ‘IFF frequency debate nearing resolution?’, Defense Electronics, 10 1984, p. 21.Google Scholar

26 Lt. Gen. Cushman, John H., ‘Command and Control of Theater Forces’ (Program on Information Resources Policy, Harvard University, 04 1983), p. ES-3.Google Scholar

27 Schultz, Franz-Joseph, ‘C3 in NATO’, in Kaltefleiter, Werner and Schumacher, Ulricke, eds, Conflicts, Options, Strategies in a Threatened World (Kiel: Institute of Political Science, Christian-Albrecht University, 1982), p. 223.Google Scholar

28 Ball, See, Can Nuclear War Be Controlled?, pp. 9–14.Google Scholar

29 These are listed in Ball, , ‘Controlling Theater Nuclear War’, Appendix, pp. 268–74.Google Scholar

30 Campbell, Duncan and Forbes, Patrick, ‘New Whitehall bunker’, New Statesman, 26 07 1985, p. 6Google Scholar; and Brown, Paul, ‘MoD digs deep for bunker’, The Guardian, 25 07 1985, p. 4.Google Scholar

31 Campbell, Duncan, ‘Maggie's bunker’, New Statesman, 24 09 1982, pp. 6–8.Google Scholar

32 ‘Preparing for a nuclear war: W. Germany tests an emergency government’, Philadelphia Inquirer, 9 03 1981, p. 1.Google Scholar

33 Campbell, Duncan, The Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier: American Military Power in Britain (London: Michael Joseph, 1984), p. 187.Google Scholar

34 Campbell, , The Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier, p. 74.Google Scholar

35 Jackson, Harold and Fairhall, David, ‘US to pull back war centre to Britain’, The Guardian, 10 12 1982, pp. 1, 28.Google Scholar

36 Jackson, and Fairhall, , ‘US to pull back’, p. 28.Google Scholar

37 Jackson, and Fairhall, , ‘US to pull back’, p. 28Google Scholar; and Charles, , Nuclear Planning in NATO, p. 128.Google Scholar

38 Arkin, William M. and Fieldhouse, Richard W., Nuclear Battlefields: Global Links in the Arms Race (Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger, 1985), pp. 282–7.Google Scholar

39 Halloran, Richard, ‘US plans war headquarters in Britain’, New York Times, 11 12 1982, p. 3.Google Scholar

40 US Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations, Military Construction Appropriations for 1983 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1982), Part 1, p. 1406Google Scholar; and US Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations, Military Construction Appropriations for 1983 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1982), Part 5, p. 206.Google Scholar

41 US Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations, Military Construction Appropriations for 1985 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1984), Part 6, p. 187.Google Scholar

42 Schneider, William, ‘Trends in Soviet frontal aviation’, Air Force Magazine, 03 1979, p. 76.Google Scholar

43 Raggett, R. J., ed., Jane's Military Communications 1987, 8th edn (London: Jane's Publishing Company Limited, 1987), pp. 791–5.Google Scholar

44 Defense Marketing Services (DMS), ‘EUCOM C3’, DMS Market Intelligence Report (Greenwich, Conn.: DMS Inc., 03 1982).Google Scholar

45 Campbell, , The Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier, p. 184.Google Scholar

46 Campbell, , The Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier, pp. 86–7, 226.Google Scholar

47 Major-General Sochaczewski, Joachim M., ‘The Role of Communications in NATO’, Military Technology, No. 6 (1984), p. 154Google Scholar. See also ‘NATO planning enhanced C3 over decade’, Aviation Week and Space Technology, 7 11 1983, p. 81.Google Scholar

48 Sochaczewski, , ‘The Role of Communications in NATO’, p. 154.Google Scholar

49 Cited in Schemmer, Benjamin F., ‘No NATO C3I “check-out counter”’, Armed Forces Journal International, 12 1982, p. 92.Google Scholar

50 Campbell, , The Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier, pp. 190–1.Google Scholar

51 Campbell, , The Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier, p. 184.Google Scholar

52 Sochaczewski, , ‘The Role of Communications in NATO’, p. 154.Google Scholar

53 Schemmer, , ‘No NATO C3I “Check-out counter”’, p. 92.Google Scholar

54 Sochaczewski, , ‘The Role of Communications in NATO’, p. 154.Google Scholar

55 Ellis, , in ‘Seminar on Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence’, p. 2.Google Scholar

56 Sochaczewski, , ‘The Role of Communications in NATO’, p. 154.Google Scholar

57 See Ball, Desmond, ‘Soviet Signals Intelligence’, in Gumble, Bruce L., executive ed., The International Countermeasures Handbook, 12th edn (Palo Alto, Calif.: EW Communications, Inc., 1987), pp. 73–89.Google Scholar

58 Ball, , ‘Soviet Signals Intelligence’, pp. 73–8.Google Scholar

59 van der Aart, Dick, Aerial Espionage: Secret Intelligence Flights by East and West (New York: Arco/Prentice Hall, 1986), pp. 83–6, and 105–9Google Scholar; Sweetman, Bill and Gunston, Bill, Soviet Air Power: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Warsaw Pact Air Forces Today (London: Salamander Books, 1978), p. 100Google Scholar; and information provided by Arkin, William, Institute for Policy Studies, Washington, DC, 16 04 1984.Google Scholar

60 Petersen, Charles C., ‘Trends in Soviet Naval Operations’, in Dismukes, Bradford and McConnell, James M., eds, Soviet Naval Diplomacy (New York: Pergamon Press, 1979), pp. 52–3.Google Scholar

61 See Ball, Desmond, ‘Soviet Signals Intelligence (SIGINT): The Use of Diplomatic Establishments’, in Painter, Floyd C., ed., The International Countermeasures Handbook, 13th edn (Palo Alto, Calif.: EW Communications Inc., 1987), pp. 24–45.Google Scholar

62 Headquarters United States European Command, ‘COMSEC Assessment during October 1973 Mid-East Conflict’ (HQ USEUCOM, Vaihingen, Germany, ECJ-A-73–0045-S, 12 1973), pp. A1–A2.Google Scholar

63 ‘COMSEC Assessment during October 1973’.

64 US Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Armed Services, Hearings on Military Posture and H.R. 6495: Department of Defense Authorization of Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1981 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1980), Part 4, p. 1946.Google Scholar

65 Schemmer, , ‘No NATO C3I “Check-out counter”’, p. 92.Google Scholar

66 Greve, Frank, ‘Security gaps raise fears about US warheads in Europe’, Philadelphia Inquirer, 3 01 1983, p. 1.Google Scholar

67 Charles, , Nuclear Planning in NATO, p. 55.Google Scholar

68 Bracken, , The Command and Control of Nuclear Forces, p. 168.Google Scholar

69 Charles, , Nuclear Planning in NATO, p. 50.Google Scholar

70 Crisis Stability and Nuclear War (A report published under the auspices of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Cornell University Peace Studies Program, Ithaca, New York, 01 1987), p. 40.Google Scholar

71 Crisis Stability and Nuclear War, p. 36.Google Scholar

72 Betts, Richard, Surprise Attack (Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 1982), p. 85.Google Scholar

73 Charles, , Nuclear Planning in NATO, pp. 49–50.Google Scholar

74 US Department of the Army, FM 100–5: Operations (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1976), p. 107.Google Scholar

75 Kelleher, , ‘NATO Nuclear Operations’, p. 457.Google Scholar

76 Romjue, John L., From Active Defense to AirLand Battle: The Development of Army Doctrine 1973–82, TRADOC Historical Monograph Series, US Training and Doctrine Command (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1984), p. 37.Google Scholar

77 Kelleher, , ‘NATO Nuclear Operations’, p. 457.Google Scholar

78 US Congress, Senate, Committee on Armed Services, Department of Defense Authorization for Appropriations for Fiscal Year 1983 (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1982), Part 7, p. 4334.Google Scholar

79 Kelleher, , ‘NATO Nuclear Operations’, p. 457.Google Scholar

80 Ball, , Can Nuclear War Be Controlled?, p. 36.Google Scholar

81 Ball, , ‘Nuclear War at Sea’, p. 22.Google Scholar

82 Cushman, , ‘Command and Control of Theater Forces’, p. 96.Google Scholar