Distinguished Professor and National Security Expert Talks Nuclear Proliferation at Wittenberg

(Photo Courtesy of Strategic Studies Institute) 

           War, nuclear weapons, and “the most dangerous place on the planet” were all on the agenda last Friday when retired Army Colonel and current CBS national security consultant Dr. Jeffery McCausland delivered a lecture titled, “Back to the Future: Battlefield Weapons in South Asia.”

            The 45-minute talk addressed the contentious relationship between India and Pakistan, and Pakistan’s proliferation of “tactical nuclear weapons,” or nuclear weapons used in short-range on the military battlefield. According to McCausland, these developments have occurred in order to deter India from acting aggressively towards Pakistan.

            While these developments have manifested for peaceful ends, McCausland warned of the prospects of these weapons falling into the hands of terrorist groups in Pakistan, in addition to arguing that their presence heightens prospects of an arms race and lowers the threshold for larger-scale nuclear escalation and war — making this “the most dangerous border in the world.”

           “If we have a nuclear war,” McCausland explained to the group of about 50 students and professors, “I firmly believe it will be in South-East Asia.” 

             McCausland likened the relationship to US-Soviet Cold War relations, and said the United States’ experience with such conflict has compelled American and Pakistani officials to participate in informal discussions on how to avoid miscalculations that could lead to “catastrophic consequences.”

            McCausland stressed that this is a problem that the United States has a direct interest in, explaining that an aggressive step taken by either Pakistan or India could trigger action from various other nations, eventually reaching the United States.

            But, according to McCausland, this problem “can only be managed, and never solved.”

            Though McCausland did not express hope for ending the problem, he did offer paths to avoid escalation, including encouraging inter-nation discussions with enhanced transparency, constructing arms control treaties, and developing any processes that slow, and illustrate the consequences of, proliferation.