Fire in the Hole: Nuclear and Non-Nuclear Options for Counterproliferation

Publication Date: November 2002

Publisher: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Author(s): Michael A. Levi

Research Area: Military and defense

Type: Report

Abstract:

The Bush Administration's Nuclear Posture Review, leaked earlier this year, advocates new nuclear weapons designed to destroy underground bunkers and neutralize caches of chemical and biological weapons. A new approach to developing non-nuclear weapons for attacking underground bunkers and chemical and biological weapons is urgently needed. Research currently is too focused on weapons systems to the neglect of intelligence assets, and non-nuclear weapons are not being sufficiently explored. This new working paper compares the potential of new nuclear weapons with that of innovative non-nuclear weapons, demonstrating that proponents of tactical nuclear weapons have consistently overestimated their destructive potential while underestimating the battlefield problems they would pose.

The report's comprehensive review of non-nuclear technologies will be of immense assistance to anyone addressing weapons that might be used in a war with Iraq.