BMD and US Strategic Doctrine: Canadian Strategic Interests in the Debate on Missile Defence

Authors

  • David McDonough

Abstract

Canada has recently declined formal participation in US plans for a missile defence system. During the Cold War, Canadian defence planners recognized that this country’s participation in US plans for missile defences carried important implications to American strategic doctrine. Missile defence has not, however, become disassociated from the US strategic deterrent. The 2002 Nuclear Posture Review and the prominent inclusion of active defences make this relationship abundantly clear. Any analysis must take into consideration the linkage between missile defence and strategic doctrine. Canada should be willing to accept defences against the immediate threat posed by rogue states, while being cautious that any strategic defence be sufficiently limited as to not destabilize strategic stability among the principal nuclear powers. In the end, Ottawa should recognize that a more sophisticated and ‘limited’ approach to missile defence, while having a clear relationship with an aggressive American strategic doctrine, could be in Canada’s strategic interest.

Author Biography

  • David McDonough
    David S. McDonough is a Ph.D. student in Political Science at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada and a Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Canadian Graduate Scholarship (Doctoral) holder. He is also a Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies at Dalhousie University. Previously, he held positions at the Canadian Institute of Strategic Studies, the Royal Canadian Military Institute and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He completed a B.A. (Hons.) at Simon Fraser University and an M.A. in Political Science at the University of British Columbia. His general research interests are on US nuclear strategy, Canadian-American defence co-operation, and the non-proliferation and arms control regime. He has published widely on a number of international security issues, including four co-edited collections on various international security issues as well as in International Journal, RUSI Journal, SITREP, Strategic Datalink and The Transatlantic Quarterly. His most recent publication is an Adelphi Paper monograph, entitled 'Nuclear Superiority': The ‘New Triad’ and the Evolution of Nuclear Strategy. The author would like to thank Frank Harvey and Dan Middlemiss for their helpful comments on earlier versions of this paper.

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Published

2007-05-01

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 3 (2007): Spring 2007

Section

Articles