Event: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Conference

The Obama administration’s recent Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) emphasized the twin objectives of reducing the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. national security strategy while maintaining a robust, credible, and effective deterrent. In order to help achieve these goals, the NPR emphasized the “growth of unrivaled U.S. conventional military capabilities” and “major improvements in missile defenses” as significant elements of the U.S. force posture for deterrence and assurance, especially against non-nuclear threats.

The goal of the conference was to explore the strategy of conventional deterrence, the role of U.S. conventional capabilities in strategic deterrence and war planning, and the consequences of increasing reliance on conventional weapons for extended deterrence, assurance, arms control and strategic stability.