Missile Contagion — Praeger Security International

Missile Contagion Cruise Missile Proliferation and the Threat to International Security

Dennis M. Gormley

Book Code: C9836

ISBN: 0-275-99836-3

ISBN-13: 978-0-275-99836-3

DOI:

272 pages

Praeger Publishers

Publication Date: 5/30/2008

List Price: $54.95 (UK Sterling Price: £37.95)

Availability: In Stock

Media Type: Hardcover

Also Available: Ebook

Subjects:

Series Title: Praeger Security International

Reviews:

"The strength of Gormley's approach is that Missile Contagion is structured to address issues of interest to multiple audiences—international security analysts, academics, and policymakers. Failing to heed his unambiguous warnings will increase the likelihood that the missile contagion will spread unchecked, and the United States, along with its allies and friends, will confront a world unnecessarily more dangerous."
—The Nonproliferation Review
Gormley (Univ. of Pittsburgh) systematically and effectively lays out the often underestimated threat of cruise missile proliferation....Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above.
—Choice
"The strength of Gormley's approach is that Missile Contagion is structured to address issues of interest to multiple audiences international security analysts, academics, and policy makers. This is understandable, given his varied roles, past and present: longstanding advisor to U.S. government agencies on security issues; former consulting senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, where he focused on cruise missiles; and current senior fellow at the Monterey Institute's James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Washington, DC, and faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs."
—Baker

Description: Most books on missile proliferation focus on the spread of ballistic missiles or cruise missiles, not both. Gormley's work, however, explains why cruise missiles are beginning to spread widely, but does so by explaining their spread in the context of ballistic missile proliferation. It therefore treats both ballistic and cruise missile proliferation as related phenomenon. This work also focuses evenhandedly on both nonproliferation and defense policy (including missile defenses and counterforce doctrines) to fashion a set of integrated strategies for dealing with ballistic and cruise missile proliferation.

Signs of missile contagion abound. In this study, Gormley argues that a series of rapid and surprising developments since 2005 suggest that the proliferation of missiles capable of delivering either weapons of mass destruction or highly accurate conventional payloads is approaching a critical threshold. The surprising fact is that land-attack cruise missiles, not ballistic missiles, constitute the primary problem. Flying under the radar, both literally and figuratively, land-attack cruise missiles add a dangerous new dimension to protecting U.S. security interests and preventing regional military instability. Gormley asserts that cruise missiles are not destined to supplant ballistic missiles; rather, they are likely to join them, because when both are employed together, they could severely test even the best missile defenses. Worse yet, Gormley argues, land-attack cruise missiles are increasingly being linked to preemptive strike doctrines, which are fueling regional arms races and crisis instability. This work explains why an epidemic of cruise missile proliferation, long forecasted by analysts, has only recently begun to occur. After first assessing the state of ballistic missile proliferation, Gormley explores the role of three factors in shaping the spread of cruise missiles. These include specialized knowledge needed for missile development; narrative messages about reasons for acquiring cruise missiles; and norms of state behavior about missile nonproliferation policy and defense doctrine. This book then addresses the policy adjustments needed to stanch the spread of cruise missiles in the first place, or, barring that, cope militarily with a more demanding missile threat consisting of both cruise and ballistic missiles.

Table of Contents:

Glossary
Preface and Acknowledgments
PART ONE The Proliferation Context
Chapter 1 Introduction
Chapter 2 The Ballistic Missile Context
Chapter 3 Ballistic Missiles and Regional Competitions
Chapter 4 Land-Attack Cruise Missiles Signs of Contagion
Chapter 5 Regional Signs of Contagion
PART TWO Proliferation Instrumentalities
Chapter 6 Knowledge
Chapter 7 Narrative
Chapter 8 Norms
PART THREE Policy Responses
Chapter 9 Nonproliferation and Defense Policy Responses
Appendix Selected Missile Programs
Notes
Select Bibliography