摘要：The 2010 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) explicitly elevated nonproliferation “for the first time” to the highest priority of US nuclear policy, among other priorities, including deterrence and assurance.1 It also identified a reduction in the roles and number of nuclear weapons as a means to promote its priority nonproliferation goal. Senior Department of Defense (DOD) officials identified “preventing nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism” and “reducing the role of nuclear weapons in US strategy” as the top US strategic objectives, and stated explicitly that the DOD assessed “deterrence requirements against these metrics.”2 Proponents of using further US nuclear reductions and limitations to promote nonproliferation argue that US nuclear-force reductions contribute to decisions of other countries to forego nuclear weapons or to more seriously pursue nonproliferation. There is, however, little to no evidence supporting this widely claimed linkage. Instead, considerable evidence exists indicating that credible US nuclear capabilities contribute to the assurance of allies and thus to the goal of nonproliferation.
