The Nuclear Triad
Resources are provided for informational purposes only. Inclusion on this list does not imply or confer endorsement by Partnership for a Secure America, PSA’s staff, Board of Directors, or Advisory Board.
“Factsheet: The Nuclear Triad.” The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, February 25, 2016
This fact sheet by the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation provides a useful introduction the nuclear triad.
“Harrison, Todd and Evan Montgomery. “The Cost of U.S. Nuclear Forces: From BCA to Bow Wave and Beyond.” Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, August, 2015.
Harrison and Montgomery evaluate the cost of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and potential cost savings realized by reducing the arsenal.
“Murdock, Clark, Samuel Brannen, Thomas Karako, and Angela Weaver. “Project Atom: Ao Competitive Strategies Approach to Defining U.S. Nuclear Strategy and Posture for 2025-2050.” Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2015
This review of nuclear strategy and posture provides an overview of the competing arguments that affect the size and composition of the U.S. nuclear arsenal.
Nuclear Threat Initiative, “U.S. Nuclear Budget – Module 2: The Nuclear Triad
The Nuclear Threat Initiative, a U.S.-based nonprofit organization, maintains extensive tutorials on many nuclear subjects, including the nuclear triad.
Schlosser, Eric, “Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety,” Penguin Press, 2013.
In this gripping account of a 1980 accident in Arkansas involving an intercontinental ballistic missile, Schlosser provides an accessible history of the development of the nuclear triad and pays special attention to the triad’s ground-based missile leg.
U.S. Department of Defense, “Nuclear Posture Review Report,” April 2010
The U.S. government’s Nuclear Posture Review outlines “…key objectives of [U.S.] nuclear weapons policies and posture”.
Wellerstein, Alex, “A Brief History of the Nuclear Triad.” Restricted Data: The Nuclear Secrecy Blog, July 15, 2016
Wellerstein, a noted expert on nuclear issues and the creator of NUKEMAP, provides a useful summary of the evolution of the U.S. nuclear triad.
Wolfsthal, Jon, Jeffrey Lewis, and Marc Quint, “The Trillion Dollar Nuclear Triad.” James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, January 2014.
Wolfsthal, Lewis, and Quint estimate that the cost of the U.S. nuclear triad will reach $1 trillion over the next thirty years.
Resources are provided for informational purposes only. Inclusion on this list does not imply or confer endorsement by Partnership for a Secure America, PSA’s staff, Board of Directors, or Advisory Board.