Clark Susan L., Laird Robbin F. Soviet military thinking and nuclear weapons issues

Institute For Defense Analyses, Alexandria, VA, 1990. — 79 p.This paper addresses the Soviet Unions's changing outlook on nuclear weapons and the role they play. To assess these changes, this paper first surveys and analyzes the Soviet open-source literature dedicated to security issues, paying particular attention to the treatment of nuclear weapons issues. The notions of changing military doctrine, strategic parity and stability, sufficiency, arms control, and the use of nuclear weapons are all addressed. The second half of the paper makes a speculative assessment of what today's changes taking place in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union might mean for future thinking about nuclear weapons issues. Finally, the impact of future Soviet defense spending and the Soviet political leadership are examined as factors that will also influence Soviet security policy.