Forbes:
The greatest threat to the survival of American democracy isn’t cyber attacks or terrorist aggression, it is nuclear war. Russia has over a thousand nuclear warheads aimed at the United States; a few dozen would be sufficient to collapse the economy and kill tens of millions.
It would be comforting to believe our nuclear deterrent can prevent such a scenario from ever unfolding, but leaders aren’t always rational, accidents happen, and the two countries have come close to nuclear war in the past. Then there’s China’s nuclear force, and North Korea. The stark reality is that America will be living under the threat of nuclear attack for the foreseeable future.
Deterrence will likely remain the centerpiece of U.S. strategy for avoiding nuclear war, but as President Trump signaled on his first day in office, we need a backup plan in the event deterrence fails. His administration has been conducting a missile defense review since May of 2017 aimed at generating options.
