Word: infliction
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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There are many other troubling assumptions in our strategic thinking. For example, what is one to make of the threat to inflict "unacceptable damage on the enemy should he strike? Who has ever defined "unacceptable damage?" using what standards? and whose norms? I will pass over these matters, however, to proceed to an issue of especially grave importance for the U.S.-USSR military competition, namely the concept "strategic" itself...
...generals do not deny the possibility of conventional engagements between the major powers, but they look upon these as mere skirmishes in a protracted conflict in which the employment of strategic weapons will prove crucial. It will be crucial because the punishment which the enemy's nuclear missiles can inflict on one's armed forces--the troops, their command, and their logistic support--is potentially so devastating that no commander can consider deploying them for combat until and unless this threat has been substantially lifted. This, of course, entails preemption, and its literature leaves no doubt that the Soviet Union...