BATTLEFIELD OF THE FUTURE

BATTLEFIELD OF THE FUTURE
its opponents inside Iraq and aggressive war against its
neighbors since he took power, there is a high likelihood that
the Gulf War will have to be repeated in the future, perhaps
against an even more dangerous enemy .
To conclude, as former Secretary of Defense Caspar
Weinberger once advised, "if we do decide to commit forces to
combat overseas, we should have clearly defined political and
military objectives . And we should know precisely how our
forces can accomplish those clearly defined objectives ." 25 This
is a useful guideline, even if it does not precisely tell you what
to do and where to draw the line on your prewar and postwar
aspirations .
The Principle of Security in Warfare
Good security means the enemy cannot achieve strategic
surprise . Such good security increasingly depends on accurate
and timely intelligence information to assess the threat and give
timely warning of it in an era when hostile and radical opponents
are about to acquire the most destructive ofweapons .
It has become increasingly difficult to predict the progress of
nonnuclear states as they approach obtaining an operational
WMD capability . Most of these regimes find it neither in their
political, economic, nor military interests to advertise their
progress or capabilities .
The international legal norm established by the NPT carries
pledges by the nuclear weapon states that they will not attack
nonnuclear signatories of the pact and that they will be
subject to sanctions if they violate that pledge . Aspiring
proliferators might hide behind their signatures on the NPT to
gain legal protection against intervention, particularly if the
evidence of their developing WMD is ambiguous .
Declared proliferators may also suffer unilateral cutoffs and
sanctions by triggering national legislation on the books in the
United States and among other states . These laws enforcing
international norms prohibiting proliferation also prescribe
various penalties for states that break from the ranks . Witness
the Pressler Amendment and the trade penalties inflicted on
Pakistan as a result of its nuclear weapons program .
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