{"id":23922,"date":"2020-12-02T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/12\/02\/why-the-pentagon-must-think-harder-about-inadvertent-escalation\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:08:02","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:08:02","slug":"why-the-pentagon-must-think-harder-about-inadvertent-escalation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/commentary\/2020\/12\/02\/why-the-pentagon-must-think-harder-about-inadvertent-escalation\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the Pentagon must think harder about inadvertent escalation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a paradox worthy of the nuclear age, the conventional capabilities that have enabled the United States to reduce its reliance on nuclear weapons have also increased the risk of misperception that could spark a nuclear war<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States now bases its war plans around using its exquisite conventional forces to sever the connections between an adversary\u2019s leadership and its military forces. But in an escalating conflict<\/a> on the Korean Peninsula, such operations could look to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un like an attempt at regime change \u2014 even if the United States did not seek to depose him \u2014 and thus induce him to gamble on nuclear use to try to terrify the United States into backing off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a war against Russia, meanwhile, the United States might try to protect its satellites by attacking the radars that Russia uses to track space assets. Such radars, however, are also used to detect attacks on Russia\u2019s nuclear forces, thus giving Moscow the ability to launch those forces before they are destroyed. As a result, Moscow might wrongly conclude that attacks on those early-warning radars were the opening salvo of a U.S. campaign to destroy its nuclear forces. Again, a nuclear war could be the result. <\/p>\n\n\n\t