Threats to U.S. Interests and Responses

Currently, the three most serious threats to United States' interests are terrorism, organized crime, and environmental problems. At the outset of this paper, it should be noted that none of these threats are as serious as the threat of global nuclear warfare which existed during the Cold War. Absent a rival nuclear power on the same level as the Soviet Union, no foreign country or non-governmental organization has the power to inflict massive destruction upon the United States to the extent that the very survivability of American society would be in jeopardy. As will be discussed below, the threat posed by terrorists using nuclear weapons within the borders of the United States, while very serious, does not rise to the level of threatening the survival of the U.S. as a society.

The outright survival of the United States has rarely been threatened during its history, except during the last half of the Twentieth Century. During the last two decades of the Cold War (1970-1990), the Soviet Union possessed sufficient numbers of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles to destroy every large city in the United States and thereby effectively destroy American society. Thus, the United States faced a threat to its survival interest, making this its most important national interest (Nuechterlein, 1985, pp. 21-22).

With the demise of the Soviet Union, this threat was eliminated. Although Russia still possesses large numbe

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ricted to important level, since the acts were isolated and limited in the amount of physical and human damage caused (Laqueur, 1996, pp. 312-14). With the demise of the Soviet Union and the resulting economic dislocation in the former Soviet states, terrorists are gaining access to more powerful weapons, including nuclear weapons. In addition, technological advances have provided more opportunities for non-governmental groups, or rogue governments in small countries, to develop chemical and biological weapons which can be used to great effect by small groups of terrorists. Commentators are divided on the realistic threat posed by such weapons in the hands of terrorists (Laqueur, 1996, p. 315; Strategic Assessment 1997, 1997, pp. 325-26). However, the potential for the use of such weapons by terrorists elevates the intensity of interests threatened. One million persons killed by a terrorist's nuclear weapon represents an assault on a more vital national interest than one hundred persons killed by a conventional truck bomb. Because terrorism affects important national interests and even critical national interests (through the threat of nuclear weapons), the use of military forces to combat terrorism is necessary. Military f
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Approximate Word count = 1873
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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