Second, as an alternative to defenses, national leaders adopted a strategy of deterrence, meaning any enemy foolish enough to launch a nuclear attack would suffer devastating retaliation-in-kind.
The only truly successful way to address the problem in the long term is through a strategy that focuses on deterrence, security, the rule of law and development.
One such challenge was whether the United States, with a military strategy based on credible nuclear deterrence, could maintain a highly reliable stockpile of nuclear weapons indefinitely without testing.