U.S. Nuclear Commander Demands New Deterrence Theory Against Russia and China

Adm. Charles Richard, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command, has found himself in a sort of insoluble three-body problem and is demanding a new deterrence theory to deal with it. “We have to account for three-party [threats],” Richard said in remarks he delivered to the 2022 Space & Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, yesterday, reported Defense One news site. “That is unprecedented in this nation’s history. We have never faced two peer nuclear-capable opponents at the same time, who have to be deterred differently.” The need for a new deterrence theory comes as previous institutional expertise on avoiding nuclear war has atrophied, Richard said. “Even our operational deterrence expertise is just not what it was at the end of the Cold War. So we have to reinvigorate this intellectual effort. And we can start by rewriting deterrence theory, I’ll tell you we’re furiously doing that out at STRATCOM,” Richard said.