Whether remembered for the Cold War-era claim that mutually assured destruction would prevent nuclear war between the U.S. and Soviet Union, or considered on its merits for applicability to today’s ...

HSToday reached out to our community to discuss deterrence and its use in practical applications in law enforcement, counterterrorism, border control and other areas where it plays an instrumental ...

In their article “ Europe’s Bad Nuclear Options ” (July/August 2025), Florence Gaub and Stefan Mair argue that the U.S. nuclear umbrella “for decades has shielded the continent from outside threats.” ...

Chris, Melanie, and Zack discuss Carter Malkasian’s recent article on “America’s crisis of deterrence.” They debate whether recent policy failures are a breakdown of deterrence theory or U.S. policy, ...

That is consistent with US President Donald Trump’s preference for strategic ambiguity and transactional diplomacy. The US is preserving military capability while maintaining political flexibility for ...

The United States is “furiously” writing a new nuclear deterrence theory that simultaneously faces Russia and China, said the top commander of America’s nuclear arsenal—and needs more Americans ...

For more than two decades after the end of the Cold War, Western states were able to redefine international security and associated rules related to the use of military force within the globalizing ...

Regarding Sorin Adam Matei’s “The Ukraine War Calls for a Revival of Deterrence Theory” (op-ed, Aug. 23): Classical deterrence theory had a simple unifying goal: Defend democracy from communist ...

Anytime a Secretary of Defense returns from Hawaii, one braces for tough talk and the “coming war with China.” Thankfully, Lloyd Austin took a different approach. Last week he gave a speech ...

In recent months, American policymakers have more than once found themselves contending with a danger that had for decades seemed consigned to the dustbin of Cold War history: the prospect of war with ...

Determining if biological attacks can be deterred requires a quick review of two topics: First, what are the basic tenets of deterrence, and second, how does this theory apply to biological threats?