How Nuclear Weapons Decisions are MadeHow are the decisions made which produce the phenomenal arsenals of nuclear weapons in the world today? Who makes them? To whom are they answerable? What role does Parliament play? These questions have until now been shrouded in mystery. But until the answers to them are widely and openly known, those who are concerned about the build-up of nuclear arsenals cannot know how the process works, and to whom they should address themselves. That is why this book is a breakthrough. It explains, for the first time, how nuclear weapons decisions are made in each of the nuclear nations. The Oxford Research Group has brought together, entirely from non-classified sources, a mass of information to throw light on a hitherto invisible and unaccountable process. |
Contents
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | 32 |
The Administration | 60 |
Defence Contracting | 73 |
The Civil Service and DecisionMaking | 94 |
The Role of the Treasury | 128 |
Britains Role in NATO | 141 |
FRANCE | 154 |
CHINA | 186 |
NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANISATION | 204 |
WARSAW TREATY ORGANISATION | 234 |
Postscript | 254 |
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Common terms and phrases
administration Adviser agencies Air Force aircraft Aldermaston alliance American armed forces arms control Army Atomic bodies bomb Britain Cabinet Central Committee Central Military Commission centre Chevaline Chiefs of Staff China civil servants civil service civilian co-ordination Command Commission Congress consultation counter-deployments decision-making Defence Council defence industry defence policy Defence Staff Department of Defence deploy deployment Disarmament Eastern European established Europe foreign policy High-Level Group institutions intelligence issues laboratories major meeting ment military Minister Ministry of Defence MIRV missiles National Security NATO NATO's Navy neutron bomb nuclear forces nuclear policy nuclear warheads nuclear weapons Office operational organisation Party Pentagon Pershing II personnel Polaris Politburo political President production programme reports responsible role Royal Ordnance Factories scientific Secretariat Secretary of Defence senior Soviet Union strategic structure technical testing tion Trident Warsaw Pact weapons development weapons systems