My journey at the nuclear brink / William J. Perry ; foreword by George P. Shultz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Perry, William James, 1927- author.

Shultz, George P., 1920-2021, author of introduction, etc.

Series:

Stanford Security Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nuclear weapons--Government policy--United States--History.

Nuclear weapons.

Nuclear arms control--United States--History.

Nuclear arms control.

United States--Military policy.

United States.

Perry, William James, 1927-.

Perry, William James.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (277 p.)

Place of Publication:

Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

My Journey at the Nuclear Brink is a continuation of William J. Perry's efforts to keep the world safe from a nuclear catastrophe. It tells the story of his coming of age in the nuclear era, his role in trying to shape and contain it, and how his thinking has changed about the threat these weapons pose. In a remarkable career, Perry has dealt firsthand with the changing nuclear threat. Decades of experience and special access to top-secret knowledge of strategic nuclear options have given Perry a unique, and chilling, vantage point from which to conclude that nuclear weapons endanger our security rather than securing it. This book traces his thought process as he journeys from the Cuban Missile Crisis, to crafting a defense strategy in the Carter Administration to offset the Soviets' numeric superiority in conventional forces, to presiding over the dismantling of more than 8,000 nuclear weapons in the Clinton Administration, and to his creation in 2007, with George Shultz, Sam Nunn, and Henry Kissinger, of the Nuclear Security Project to articulate their vision of a world free from nuclear weapons and to lay out the urgent steps needed to reduce nuclear dangers.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

1 The Cuban Missile Crisis: A Nuclear Nightmare

2 A Fire in the Sky

3 The Rise of the Soviet Missile Threat and the Race for Data to Understand It

4 An Original Silicon Valley Entrepreneur and the Advance of Spy Technology

5 A Call to Serve

6 Implementing the Offset Strategy and the Emergence of Stealth Technology

7 Buildup of the US Nuclear Force

8 Nuclear Alerts, Arms Control, and Missed Opportunities in Nonproliferation

9 The Undersecretary as a Diplomat

10 Back in Civilian Life: The Cold War Ends, but the Nuclear Journey Continues

11 A Return to Washington: The New Challenge of “Loose Nukes” and the Lurching Reform of Defense Acquisition

12 I Become Secretary of Defense

13 Dismantling Nuclear Weapons and Building the Legacy of Nunn-Lugar

14 The Crisis with North Korea: Containing an Emerging Nuclear State

15 Ratifying Start II and Battling over the Test Ban Treaty

16 NATO, Peacekeeping in Bosnia, and the Rise of Security Ties with Russia

17 The “Immaculate Invasion” of Haiti and Forging Ties for Western Hemispheric Security

18 The “Iron Logic” between Military Capability and Quality of Life

19 A Farewell to Arms

20 The Fall of Security Ties with Russia

21 Seeking Common Ground with China, India, Pakistan, and Iran

22 The North Korean Policy Review: Triumph and Tragedy

23 Fiasco in Iraq: Then and Now

24 The Nuclear Security Project: Former “Cold Warriors” Offer a New Vision

25 A Way Forward: Hope for a World without Nuclear Weapons

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780804797146

0804797145

OCLC:

919315687