Nation: Rethinking the Unthinkable

Carter revises the new game plan for fighting a nuclear war

At the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., this week, Secretary of Defense Harold Brown is to unveil officially the nuclear age's ultimate contingency plan. To some critics, it is a doomsday scenario, an outline for atomic war that could lead to the destruction of the human race. But to U.S. defense policymakers, Brown's speech represents an unavoidable rethinking of the unthinkable: bringing up to date U.S. strategic plans for deterring nuclear war.

Some details of the policy changes that Brown plans to announce...

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