War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Albert Carnesale, 1987
Description:
Albert Carnesale served on the U.S. delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) and led the delegation to the International Nuclear Fuel Cycle Evaluation (INFCE). The interview deals mostly with questions of nuclear strategy and the MX missile, along with its various basing options. Issues of vulnerability and survivability receive detailed consideration. He discusses arguments about the purported purpose and utility of the MX, including why it is useful even though there are thousands of other weapons in the U.S. arsenal. Discussing whether the MX is a first-strike weapon, he advances the "Carnesale theorem" - that weapons are dangerous only if they belong to the adversary. The politics of MX is another topic of discussion. He disagrees with Gen. Scowcroft's view that the MX was important from the point of view of world perceptions of U.S. capabilities. He provides a colorful scenario of a Soviet adviser proposing to the Soviet leader taking out America's ICBM force and ultimately getting thrown out of the office because of the patent infeasibility of the idea. He also discusses the MX's possible use as a first-strike weapon in Europe. He notes the contradiction between working toward a world where neither side has an advantage in using nuclear weapons, and simultaneously relying on those arms to deter aggression. He closes with a discussion of the issues connected with the concept of counterforce.
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