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Article: Nonproliferation and National Security, United States
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Espionage, Intelligence, andSecurity
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Nonproliferation and National Security, United States
The United States government has long had an interest in nonproliferation as a means of ensuring national security. The logic governing this interest is straightforward: as long as weapons continue to proliferate among foreign and hostile powers, U.S. national security remains under threat. At the same time, weapons buildups in other nations arguably necessitate a corresponding buildup in the United States. This can have a number of undesirable effects, ranging from increased spending to a heightened chance of a confrontation such as the one that occurred during the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962.
U.S. interest in nuclear ...