Cruise Missiles; Technology, Strategy, Politics

Washington DC: The Brookings Institution, 1981. First [Paperback] Printing [Stated]. Trade paperback. Good. xvi, 612, [12] pages. Footnotes. Figures. Tables. Appendix A: Detailed Characteristics of the Soviet Air Defense System. Appendix B: Additional Data on Costs. Appendix C: Glossary. Index. Some highlighting noted. Cover wear noted. Richard Kevin Betts (born August 15, 1947) is an international relations scholar who centers on U.S. foreign policy. He is currently the Arnold Saltzman Professor of War and Peace Studies in the Department of Political Science, the director of the International Security Policy Program in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, and former director of the Institute of War and Peace Studies. His dissertation, under the direction of Samuel P. Huntington was on the role of military advice in decisions to resort to force, which later became his first book, Soldiers, Statesmen, and Cold War Crises. His dissertation was awarded the Sumner Prize, for best dissertation in international relations. He served as a professional staff member on the Church Committee. In 1976 Betts joined the Brookings Institution where he served as a research associate and later in 1981 a senior fellow until 1990. He was a staff member on the National Security Council in 1977 and on the foreign policy staff of Walter Mondale presidential campaign in 1984. In 1990, Betts joined the faculty at Columbia University. He led the international security policy program at the School of International and Public Affairs, became the director of the Institute of War and Peace Studies. In 1996, Betts joined the Council on Foreign Relations as the Director of National Security Studies. The cruise missile is the principal innovation in U.S. weaponry in the early 1980s. Because it is inexpensive and versatile, it is likely to be used for a wide range of military missions. At the same time, it has become a delicate issue in arms control and alliance politics. Although cruise missile programs are among the most dynamic elements in the U.S. defense buildup, their consequences have not been fully appreciated. This book assesses the complex set of technological, budgetary, strategic, diplomatic, and political implications of this new weapon as a contribution to public understanding of its pervasive influence on diplomacy and military affairs. Cruise missile technology and development programs are dealt with in chapters by John C. Toomay; Gordon MacDonald, Jack Ruina, and Mark Balaschak; Ron Huisken; and John C. Baker. Military uses and arm control implications are discussed by Bruce Bennett and James Foster; Roger H. Palin; Richard Burt; Michael MccGwire; George H. Quester; and William H. Kinkade. Diplomatic and national political questions are analyzed by Raymond L. Garthoff; Robert J. Art and Stephen E. Ockenden; Gregory F. Treverton; Lawrence D. Freedman; and Catherine McArdle Kelleher.