Armageddon Insurance

Edward M. Geist has written an important book on what today is called homeland security. However, for most of the postwar period, both the Soviet Union and the United States were committed to comprehensive civilian defense (Cd), both as part of a larger deterrent strategy and as a way to organize civil society to prepare for strategic nuclear war. Geist's book adds to the growing literature on institutional, social, and political aspects of the Cold War era. Anyone of certain age (including this reviewer) remembers well “ducking and covering,” led by a cartoon character named Bert the Turtle, as we prepared for oblivion. We were not told that was what we were doing; we were told we would survive and even flourish in the postattack environment. This was ludicrous, but we did not know we were performers in a state-centered Cd campaign to signal to the Soviet Union that the United States was prepared, if necessary, to fight and “win” a strategic nuclear war. Deterrence theory rests, in part, on signaling intentions and setting “red-lines” by demonstrating credibility, communication, capability, and commitment. Cd was conceived by U.S. and Soviet war planners to establish all four of these components in a broader comprehensive nuclear deterrence strategy

Credibility · Deterrence theory · Economics · Management · Nuclear strategy · Nuclear weapon · Offensive · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · State (computer science · European and Russian Geopolitical Military Strategies · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law · Nuclear Issues and Defense

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