`Vindictive' streak makes sense in N-policy, study says

Harking back to the Cold War era of nuclear standoff, the U.S. military's nuclear command says an "irrational and vindictive" demeanor against adversaries such as Iraq may help deter conflict.

The view is contained in an internal study, "Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence," written by the Strategic Command, the multiservice headquarters responsible for the nation's strategic nuclear arsenal.The study was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by an arms control advocacy group and published Sunday in a report on U.S. strategies for deterring attacks by antagonistic nations using chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

"Because of the value that comes from the ambiguity of what the U.S. may do to an adversary if the acts we seek to deter are carried out, it hurts to portray ourselves as too fully rational and cool-headed," the 1995 study said.

The British-American Security Information Council, a London-based think tank, cited the study in its report as an example of the Pentagon's push to maintain a mission for its nuclear arsenal long after the Soviet threat disappeared.

The report portrays Strategic Command (STRATCOM), based in Omaha, Neb., as fighting an internal bureaucratic battle against liberal Clinton administration officials who lean in favor of dramatic nuclear weapons reductions.

While budgets for nuclear weapons have declined dramatically, the command appears to have succeeded in shifting the U.S. nuclear deterrent strategy from the former Soviet Union to so-called rogue states - Iraq, Libya, Cuba, North Korea and the like.

The study uses Cold War language in defending the relevance of nuclear weapons in deterring such potential adversaries.

"The fact that some elements (of the U.S. government) may appear to be potentially `out of control' can be beneficial to creating and reinforcing fears and doubts within the minds of an adversary's decisionmakers," it says. "That the U.S. may become irrational and vindictive if its vital interests are attacked should be a part of the national persona we project to all adversaries."

The idea of projecting an aura of irrationality was not original to STRATCOM. It dates at least as far back as the early 1960s, when Harvard Professor Thomas Schelling was writing his groundbreaking works on game theory and nuclear bargaining.