The political command and control of nuclear forces

“Even more than in 1914, governments in our own day are likely to be ignorant of the technical detail of war and the tactical measures that can or cannot (or, more important, must or must not) be taken in various specialized situations. In peacetime the study and preparation of these measures will be relegated to military staffs as being narrow and technical. Today, .... it is almost impossible to get people interested in the tactics and strategy of thermonuclear war. It is now believed that only the prewar moves are of interest, and even those are not too important because deterrence is supposed to be so close to 'automatic'.” Herman Kahn (1960).