Art Class

The air must have been thick with questions during a U.S. Strategic Command-sponsored symposium on the topic of deterrence this week, judging by the opening remarks of STRATCOM chief Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton.

In his July 29 speech, published on the command's Web site, Chilton reiterated a few points he made during an appearance on Capitol Hill earlier this year. For one, he argued, U.S. defense experts have not paid enough attention to the question of what deterrence means -- and how it should be practiced -- in a post-Cold War world.

“((W))hatever the reason, the result is, I believe, we’ve allowed an entire generation to skip class, if you will, on the subject of strategic deterrence,” he said. “Few who put on the uniform or joined our civil service corps of the Department of Defense after 1992 have been challenged with the imperative to be versant in the art of deterrence,” he added.

It should be noted that Chilton made his comments out of an assumption that “ nuclear weapons will be with us for the foreseeable future.”

But non-nuclear deterrence mechanisms, including contributions from civilian agencies, also will be crucial as new threats loom from space and cyberspace, Chilton stressed.

The general hurled two profound questions at the audience: How does one deter terrorists? And, our favorite: “What role do nuclear weapons play in efforts to curb their own proliferation?”

We'll check back with STRATCOM soon to find out whether the symposium has helped anyone find the answers.

One noteworthy event detail: Chilton made a point of greeting foreign symposium attendants who traditionalists would consider the very targets of U.S. deterrence efforts. Among them were Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the United States, and Chinese military scholar Senior Colonel Yao Yunzhu.

An “interconnected world” indeed, as Chilton called it.