Managing Nuclear Operations

by Ashton B. Carter and John D. Steinbruner

Book Overview

During four decades of experience with nuclear weapons, public awareness and discussion have focused on their basic properties and capabilities--the explosive power they contain, the technical capabilities of the missiles and aircraft that carry them, the size of the Soviet and American arsenals, and the magnitude of destruction those arsenals could accomplish. Yet little attention has been paid to the technologies, procedures, and organizational...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0815713134
• ISBN13: 9780815713135
• Release Date: February 1987
• Publisher: Globe Pequot Publishing Group Inc/Bloomsbury
• Length: 776 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

An overview of stockpile-to-target sequence

One of the first things you notice is the weight of this tome, (1 5/8-inch spine) and the intellectual weight of contributors to the book. Household names include John Toomay, Russell Dougherty, Michael May, Paul Bracken and the editors. Flipping through the work reveals an essential list of acronyms, outstanding graphics, and thoroughly-footnoted text. The book is divided into three sections: (1) nuclear operations, (2) the command system, and; (3) policy perspectives. My primary interest was in policy, (which required reading the whole book). Highly technical subjects like communications links are rendered at a level that I had no trouble understanding. Technical descriptions are so well written that even elected officials will understand them. Common misconceptions among memebers of the public are discussed. One such misconception is that a nuclear exchange is supposed to flatten everthing in the opposing nation. An interesting, related film describing Minuteman training operations is "Missile," Zipporah Films, 1986.