Albert Wohlstetter Dot Com: Albert Wohlstetter on the Myth of Spiraling Arms Races, and the Realities of Strategic Competition

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March 3, 2008

Albert Wohlstetter on the Myth of Spiraling Arms Races, and the Realities of Strategic Competition

In Focus. This morning, the Washington Post published Richard Perle's op-ed, "The Arms Race Myth, Again," which cites Albert Wohlstetter's 1976 essay, "Racing Forward? Or Ambling Back?" In turn, a number of online visitors have come to this website looking for a PDF of Wohlstetter's essay.

I aim to post a PDF of "Racing Forward? Or Ambling Back?" later today. [See update below.] In the meantime, I'm posting a PDF of an earlier -- but also much longer -- version of Wohlstetter's "Racing Forward? Or Ambling Back?":

Albert Wohlstetter, Legends of the Strategic Arms Race, USSI Report 75-1 (Washington, DC: United States Strategic Institute, September 1974).

One advantage of this longer 1974 version is that it includes the data from which Wohlstetter made his key inferences.

In addition, here's a list of Wohlstetter writings relevant not only to Albert's critique of the concept of exponentially-increasing or spiraling arms races, but also to his more nuanced understanding of strategic competition:

Albert Wohlstetter, "Is There a Strategic Arms Race?", Foreign Policy, No. 15 (Summer 1974), pp. 3-20.
Albert Wohlstetter, "Rivals, But No 'Race'," Foreign Policy, No. 16 (Fall 1974), pp. 48-81.
Albert Wohlstetter, Legends of the Strategic Arms Race, USSI Report 75-1 (Washington, DC: United States Strategic Institute, September 1974). Available online at Albert Wohlstetter Dot Com.
Albert Wohlstetter, "Clocking the Strategic Arms Race," opinion, Wall Street Journal, September 24, 1974, p. 24.
Albert Wohlstetter, Thomas Brown, Gregory Jones, David McGarvey, Robert Raab, Arthur Steiner, Roberta Wohlstetter and Zivia Wurtele, Methods That Obscure and Methods That Clarify the Strategic Competition, DAHC 15-73-C-0074 (Los Angeles, CA: PAN Heuristics, June 30, 1975).
Albert Wohlstetter, "Optimal Ways to Confuse Ourselves," Foreign Policy, No. 20 (Fall 1975), pp. 170-198.
Albert Wohlstetter, "Racing Forward? Or Ambling Back?," Survey, Vol. 22. Nos. 3/4 (Summer 1976), pp. 161-217.

More to follow . . .

Update (10:20 PM ET): As promised, I'm posting a PDF of:

Albert Wohlstetter, "Racing Forward? Or Ambling Back?," Survey, Vol. 22. Nos. 3/4 (Summer 1976), pp. 161-217.

This website's bibliography for Albert Wohlstetter has been updated to contain external links to this essay, as well as to the 1974 essay mentioned above.

Posted by Robert on March 3, 2008 12:50 PM