Verified Document

Peace Strategy A Strategy For Essay

At the time of its composition, Laird's proposal would be contextualized by the ongoing SALT conferences between the U.S. And Soviet Union designed to reduce each side's proclivity toward nuclear armament in a highly contentious setting. The result would be the re-assertion in Laird's strategy of American prioritization of its nuclear armament. As Laird would note, "we should make it clear to the Soviet Union that regardless of the outcome of SALT, our approach to strategic forces is designed to preserve our deterrent without question." (Laird, p. 10) This 'deterrent' would be the continued research, development and maintenance of its nuclear stockpile in the interests of demonstrating the latent power to respond to any Soviet nuclear action. As Laird reports, even under the terms of the uncomfortable negotiation with the Soviets over an Anti-Ballistics Missile treaty, it was the intention of the United States to remain girded by this stockpile. Today, conditions are quite different owing primarily to the power vacuum created by the collapse of the Soviet Union. With its dissemination into an array of independent states would also come the dissemination of many of its nuclear secrets. These would not be accompanied by the same sovereignty principles that deterred the Soviets from engaging the U.S. On a nuclear front. Such is to say that as nuclear technology has become ever more accessible, rogue states such as Iran and North Korea demonstrate that the fear of nuclear retaliation may no longer be a sufficient deterrent. The current policy, accordingly, must more directly reflect the ambitions underlying the original SALT negotiations. That is, the United States must be an active participant in a multilateral effort to reduce the global presence of nuclear stockpiles as well as to apply political pressure on those rogue states that are not cooperative with that effort. This is a substantial departure from Laird's recommendations.

More consistent though is the relationship between Laird's sense of balance where the use of conventional force is concerned and the same sense as it is applied to military operations today. According to...

(2008), "the Army has chosen to man, equip, and train each of its combat and support units to be 'full-spectrum-capable,' able to function in all operational scenarios described in the previous passage. While the Army considers its units "full spectrum capable," Army units are optimized for traditional ground campaigns against the ground forces of other nations." (Feickert et al., p. 1) This directly echoes Laird's assertion that "a careful restructuring of forces to permit improvements in mobility, more tailoring of forces to operate with increased efficiency in specific areas and/or environments, and reorganization of these forces to provide improved responsiveness are all steps that should be taken." (Laird, p. 10) This recommendation would ultimately bear considerable relevance to the balance between full-scale operations in countries like Afghanistan and more limited operational engagements in contexts such as Libya.
Conclusion:

Ultimately, we can say that Laird's strategy for peace would be a prescient one, most critically helping to prepare policy-makers for a standing military that would no longer require a draft. This would represent a fundamental modernization of America's fighting force. However, it is also important to recognize the considerable impact of Cold War thinking on certain dimensions of Laird's policy recommendation. Today, recontextualization of Laird's ideas may bring illumination.

Works Cited:

Feickert, Andrew. Does the Army Need a Full-Spectrum Force or Specialized Units? Background and Issues for Congress, Congressional Research Service, 18 January 2008, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34333.pdf

Laird, Melvin. "Strategy for Peace: National Security Strategy of Realistic Deterrence." Department of Defense. 6 November 1970.

Metternich, Ronald. "Security Force Assistance: Organization for the Long War." U.S. Army War College, 30 March 2010. http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA520009

Nagl, John a. "Institutionalizing Adaptation." Center for a New American Security, June 2007.

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited:

Feickert, Andrew. Does the Army Need a Full-Spectrum Force or Specialized Units? Background and Issues for Congress, Congressional Research Service, 18 January 2008, http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL34333.pdf

Laird, Melvin. "Strategy for Peace: National Security Strategy of Realistic Deterrence." Department of Defense. 6 November 1970.

Metternich, Ronald. "Security Force Assistance: Organization for the Long War." U.S. Army War College, 30 March 2010. http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA520009

Nagl, John a. "Institutionalizing Adaptation." Center for a New American Security, June 2007.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Peace Agreements and International Intervention
Words: 3606 Length: 8 Document Type: Term Paper

Peace Agreements and International Intervention A peace treaty is an agreement between two hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a war or armed conflict. Treaties are often ratified in territories deemed neutral in the previous conflict and delegates from these neutral territories act as witnesses to the signatories. In the case of large conflicts between numerous parties there may be one global treaty covering all issues or separate

Strategy and Tactics Warfare and
Words: 1100 Length: 3 Document Type: Essay

For example, in decision making style differences arise from professional backgrounds, "the decision cycle of a fighter pilot (the Navy Captain) [is] measured in seconds while that of an infantry officer (the Colonel) in hours and days." If one compounds this paradigm with career Statists, who tend to measure decisions in months or years based on "never enough data," we can see the conundrum (Marks, 2007). For generations, though, training

Strategy: How Relevant Is Counterinsurgency
Words: 2706 Length: 8 Document Type: Essay

(Mahnken and Maiolo, 2008, p. 339); (Friedman, 2003); (Military Doctrine, Guerrilla Warfare and Counterinsurgency, 2003) "Disaggregation" could provide a new strategy for the counterinsurgency model for its war against terrorism. Disaggregation would involve prohibiting links between theaters, preventing global or regional insurgents to associate with or exploit potential local terrorists, disrupting the flow of information, propaganda and materials within and between jihad hotspots, abolishing sanctuary areas, identifying and isolating radical

Strategy -- Rulers, States and War It
Words: 1765 Length: 5 Document Type: Book Review

Strategy -- Rulers, States and War It is very difficult to look at the history of humanity and define a number of common, yet intangible philosophies of action that seem to be part of the overall human condition. One of these intangibles is the human capacity to produce both incredible beauty and horrific evil -- both of which occur during war. In fact, we may ask -- what is war?

Strategy Icty and Ictr Introduction
Words: 5032 Length: 15 Document Type: Essay

Yet, according to the article, former Yugoslav republics continue in their failure to arrest and hand over inductees, or to investigate and prosecute the war crimes in question. Clearly the counseling provided by the ICTY has been far from adequate, or the countries involved are simply not yet ready to take over the responsibility of prosecution. The article also cites Amnesty International in a statement that war crime legislation on

Peace Vs Violence Within the US
Words: 443 Length: 1 Document Type: Essay

Brief: Analysis of the Global Peace Index and United States Peace IndexThe Global Peace Index (GPI) for 2023 shows a continued deterioration in global peacefulness for the ninth consecutive year. 84 countries recorded improvements, while 79 deteriorated. Key factors include increased conflict deaths, economic impacts of violence, and internationalization of conflicts. Ukraine experienced significant deterioration due to the ongoing conflict.The U.S. Peace Index (USPI) from 2010 key findings show that

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now