Abstract: Recent developments in Russian and Chinese nuclear modernization, the ever-closer politico-military cooperation between the two, and China’s emergence as a near nuclear peer have made the question of a potential nuclear decapitation strike by US adversaries more salient than at any time since the end of the Cold War.  Although there is no dispositive evidence that either the PRC or Russia are contemplating a decapitation strike the development of these capabilities - Fractional Orbital Bombardment Systems, ASATS among them - throws into stark relief the urgent need to modernize US NC3 as our ongoing nuclear modernization proceeds.

Ambassador (ret.) Eric S. Edelman is Counselor at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and non-resident fellow at UVA’s Miller Center of Public Affairs.  He has served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republics of Finland and Turkey as well as Principal Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs and Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.  His essays have appeared in The Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, World Affairs, The American Interest, The Weekly Standard, American Purpose, Politico, The Hill, The Bulwark and The Dispatch.  He is the co-host of the Shield of the Republic podcast and author of “Nuclear Strategy in Theory and Practice,” in The New Makers of Modern Strategy, (Princeton, NJ:  Princeton University Press, 2023). His holds a BA in History from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in U.S. Diplomatic History from Yale University.

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