By Dr. Louis Rene’ Beres, Lieutenant General Thomas McInerny (USAF Ret.) and Major General Paul E. Vallely (U.S. Army Ret.)
In the latter part of 2008, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, in a speech before the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said that the United States would hold “fully accountable” any country or organization that assisted terrorists in the acquisition or use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. There was nothing essentially new in the Bush administration reassertion of “extended deterrence,” nor – for that matter - was there anything wrong with it. But, we must also ask: Why should our enemies be worried?