Despite being an issue area that could destroy civilization in a day, nuclear weapons policy only rarely intrudes into the public mind. The United States is a nuclear superpower, one that deters its rivals in significant part thanks to its stockpile of nuclear weapons. The responsible management of this force—is it possible? And what would it look like? What specifically do nuclear weapons do for U.S. security, and what do they do for other countries, particularly our rivals? And is there any hope that nuclear weapons may one day cease to threaten humanity? September 2020’s Cato Unbound features essays from various experts dealing with our nuclear reality.

Budgetary and strategic inertia has impeded the development of a U.S. military best suited to deal with future challenges. Over the past several decades, the military has repeatedly answered the call to arms as American foreign policy privileges the use of force over other instruments of power and influence. The era of near endless war has now stretched into its third decade. In a new paper, Cato scholars Eric Gomez, Christopher A. Preble, Lauren Sander, & Brandon Valeriano argue that Washington should realign national security objectives and motivate allies and partners to become more capable as America’s relative military advantage wanes and the focus inevitably turns to domestic priorities, including public health.