Mutual-vulnerability deterrence doctrine is obsolete against terrorist nuclear threats

Evidence

An ABM treaty designed to meet the Cold War need to insure the mutual vulnerability of Soviet and American societies and thus to deter Soviet-American nuclear war may well obstruct the ability of the United States and other societies to protect themselves against unpredictable nuclear threats or attacks by terrorist movements and irrational dictators. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 857

Categorization

• SEED: An essay angle: how the logic of mutual assured destruction — designed for two rational superpowers — fails catastrophically against non-state and irrational actors, and what that says about treaties frozen in Cold War form.