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Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations |
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The list of reason field commanders can ask for permission to use nuclear weapons. Of the 8 possible reasons, only one is for retaliation. (From page III.2 (PDF p.47) of Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations) Only two of the eight (a) and (b) are mentioned in the Washington Post article.
 Theater nuclear support by CDRUSSTRATCOM
Geographic combatant commanders may request Presidential approval for use of nuclear weapons for a variety of conditions. Examples include:
(a) An adversary using or intending to use WMD against US, multinational, or alliance forces or civilian populations.
(b) Imminent attack from adversary biological weapons that only effects from nuclear weapons can safely destroy.
(c) Attacks on adversary installations including WMD, deep, hardened bunkers containing chemical or biological weapons or the C2 infrastructure required for the adversary to execute a WMD attack against the United States or its friends and allies.
(d) To counter potentially overwhelming adversary conventional forces, including
mobile and area targets (troop concentration).
(e) For rapid and favorable war termination on US terms.
(f) To ensure success of US and multinational operations.
(g) To demonstrate US intent and capability to use nuclear weapons to deter
adversary use of WMD.
(h) To respond to adversary-supplied WMD use by surrogates against US
and multinational forces or civilian populations.
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http://zfacts.com/p/102.html | 01/18/12 07:19 GMT
Modified: Sun, 04 Mar 2007 14:55:44 GMT
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