Log in Free trial  US Nuclear Deterrence  Article excerpt  An
Opportunity for President Obama to Lead by Example  Although the
United States has undertaken significant nuclear arms reductions
since the end of the Cold War, as has Russia, and is currently
on track to achieve the cuts agreed under the terms of the
Moscow Treaty by 2012, many people argue that the contemporary
security environment warrants further reductions.1 The Nuclear
Posture Review of 2002 formally recognized the termination of an
adversarial relationship with Russia and set out a move away
from a Cold War-styled "threat-based" approach, instead adopting
a "capabilitybased" approach. This would provide a "credible
deterrent at the lowest level of nuclear weapons consistent with
U.S. and allied security," with the broadest possible range of
options to respond to any one of a variety of security
challenges.2 The capabilitybased approach established a "new
triad" composed of offensive nuclear and nonnuclear strike
systems, active and passive d