Debate Primer: No First Strike

This week, Political Union will be debating whether the United States should impose a No First Use policy for nuclear weapons. 

First, a basic rundown of nuclear policy and the role No First Use (NFU) (or Nuclear Declaratory Policy) would play within our Foreign Policy from the Council on Foreign Relations. [6 minutes]

• A brief timeline of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) [6 minutes]

• A definition and history of nuclear deterrence [5 minutes]

  • A nice definition of Nuclear Umbrella [30 seconds]

• A game theory style breakdown of the utility of NFU to various nuclear states. [8 minutes]

• An Op-ed from the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in support of NFU, and their NFU FAQ. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ [4 minutes]

  • The case for NFU from Michael S. Gerson a research analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) for International Security, America’s leading peer-reviewed journal of security affairs. [6 minutes]

• An Op-ed from Rebeccah Heinrichs, a Senior Fellow for the Hudson Institute urging a rejection of NFU.

  • A reflection on the impact of NFU to our allies from Dr. Keith B. Payne a co-founder of the National Institute for Public Policy. [2 minutes]

  • An explanation on the relevance of Japan to the NFU conversation (read the Abstract and Introduction). [4 minutes]

• Biden’s campaign trail support of NFU, and an update now. [4 minutes]

• An explanation of China’s No First Use Policy, which summarizes their (nuclear) national defense policy. [3 minutes]

  • But do they mean it? [3 minutes]

• A brief review of China-Russia relations. [4 minutes]

Photo via Houston Public Media