Reading List

Chief of Staff of the Air Force

Professional Reading List

book

The Second Nuclear Age

by Paul Bracken

We are responsible for maintaining and employing 2/3 of the Nation’s nuclear triad and 75% of nuclear command, control and communications—underpinning our strategic deterrence.  As we face rising powers and unstable regimes, understanding and advocacy for our nuclear force by all American Airmen has never been more important.  New thinking about deterrence theory in the 21st century is essential. This book gives us insight into the complexity of nuclear order in our dynamic global security environment.

book

Escalation and Deterrence

CSIS Report

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first human-made object to orbit the Earth. Six decades later, space-faring nations face a much different space environment, one that’s more diverse, disruptive, disordered, and dangerous. Today’s space domain presents a number of asymmetries that differ from other domains, creating a deterrence environment with unique policy implications. Escalation and Deterrence in the Second Space Age, a report from the CSIS Aerospace Security Project, discusses the evolution of space as a contested domain, the changing threats to U.S. space systems, deterrence theory and its applications to the space domain, and findings from a space crisis exercise administered by CSIS in late 2016.