In the old Cold War days, we lived in maximum danger of nuclear annihilation, but paradoxically we also enjoyed maximum stability. It was in both America s and the Soviets interests to ensure that allies did nothing to precipitate war between the superpowers. Today, while there is less danger from an all or nothing nuclear confrontation, we live in a less stable world and there is a growing risk of Americans dying in a chemical, biological or nuclear attack from outlaw nations or terrorists. The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction will continue to plague us for decades to come. While we have a longstanding policy of trying to put the nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons genies back in the bottle, we are doing no more than keeping our fingers in a very leaky dike.
Every week brings news of a new technological hurdle cleared.
First it was India, then Pakistan. We have witnessed North Korean and Iraqi cheating on their international agreements and developing weapons of mass destruction. And we have seen the U.S. blindly ignoring evidence of Chinese and Russians selling weapons of mass destruction around the globe. We have to think through the implications of a world where many states possess nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and are able to deliver these weapons to our shores by ballistic missiles. We are not prepared for this.