The Developing International Law on Gathering and Sharing Security Intelligence

Abstract

The survival of all participants in the international arena rests upon the maintenance, short of actual and viable disarmament, of a system of effective mutual deterrence among the major participants. This system-is based on the capability of each major participant to inflict an intolerable degree of destruction upon any other who might strike first with nuclear weapons. Given such a capability at present and for the foreseeable future, effective mutual deterrence in turn depends upon the major participants' adequate knowledge of their respective capabilities and intentions, sufficient to reveal a relative balance and thereby to deter a nuclear first strike by any of them.