Partitioning the Nuclear Oceans

2017 Joint Area Center Symposium
Cliff Singer, Director of the Program in Arms Control & Domestic and International Security (ACDIS) and Emeritus Professor of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, and of Political Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

In a world with more than two alliances possessing nuclear-armed submarines and no limits on where they patrol, it could become difficult during or in the immediate aftermath of a nuclear attack to reliably identify the source of that attack. This situation could seriously undermine the rationale for nuclear deterrence, which relies on knowing where to threaten to retaliate. One approach to addressing this problem is a verifiable agreement to limit patrol regions for nuclear-armed submarines. Failure with this element of global governance could have catastrophic consequences.