Should the United States Rule Out Nuclear Retaliation for Large-Scale Chemical and Biological Attacks?
If the United States and its allies are to protect their vital interests against states that have the capability to make these kinds of large-scale CB attacks, either they must be able to defend themselves well enough to keep casualties reasonably low, or they must deter such attacks. The populations of the United States and most of its allies are not protected against large-scale CB attacks. Furthermore, allied military forces have much to do before they achieve a reliable capability to survive and operate for extended periods in the face of large-scale CB attacks against military forces or their supporting infrastructure. Thus, for the foreseeable future, when the United States and its allies are called on to face aggression by states capable of large-scale CB attacks, they will have to resort to the prospect of retaliation to suppress whatever temptations the opponent may see to make such attacks. Those temptations may be very large in some situations. What kind of retaliation shoul
