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Definition
| a limitation on the size and armament of the armed forces of a country |
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| Military efforts to combat proliferation, including the application of military power to protect forces and interests, intelligence collection, and analysis. |
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| A condition where small events or minor conflicts can cause very large disturbances or escalate to major conflicts within the international system. |
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| De-activate: To remove a weapon from operational status for an indefinite period. Used synonymously with "de-alert" in referring to nuclear missiles. De-alert: To reduce the level of readiness to launch of nuclear weapons systems. Measures include removing nuclear warheads from missiles and storing the warheads separately from the missiles. |
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Definition
| The actions of a state or group of states to dissuade a potential adversary from initiating an attack or conflict by the threat of retaliation. Deterrence should credibly demonstrate to an adversary that the costs of an attack would be too great and would outweigh any potential gains. |
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| The reduction of a military establishment to some level set by international agreement. See also arms control; arms control agreement; arms control measure. |
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| The slow descent of minute particles of debris in the atmosphere following an explosion, especially the descent of radioactive debris after a nuclear explosion |
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| The launch of a surprise attack to considerably weaken or destroy an adversary's military installations or nuclear forces and thus severely reduce its ability to attack or retaliate. |
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Term
| Mutual assured destruction (MAD): |
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Definition
| the doctrine of military strategy in which a full scale use of nuclear weapons by one of two opposing sides would result in the destruction of both the attacker and the defender. It is based on the theory of deterrence according to which the deployment of strong weapons is essential to threaten the enemy in order to prevent the use of the very same weapons. First strike policy. |
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