William J. Perry - The Button: The New Nuclear Arms Race and Presidential Power from Truman to Trump

Contents

Every citizen should read this booka clear account of our history with nuclear weapons, the continuing risks of their use through human error or cyberattacks, and the authors recommended steps to create a safer future. Its an assault on the complacency of nobody would be crazy enough to unleash these thinking.

President Bill Clinton

Nuclear weapons pose an urgent, existential threat to mankind. In The Button, William J. Perry and Tom Z. Collina describe the grave but largely forgotten danger we now faceand how we can greatly reduce it. Perry has more than half a century of experience dealing with nuclear issues at the highest levels of government. Collina is one of our most brilliant and incisive nuclear weapon experts. Together they have devised a number of simple ways to replace the current madness with common sense. Today a nuclear catastrophe could occur instantaneously, at any moment, without any warning, with a lasting impact too terrible for words. Thats why The Button is one of the most important books of 2020.

Eric Schlosser, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of Command and Control

Bill Perry, one of the wisest and most effective secretaries of defense ever to serve, has coauthored with Tom Collina another provocative, must-read book. The Button: The New Nuclear Arms Race and Presidential Power from Truman to Trump brings to life the nuclear dangers and dilemmas of the present day and makes a compelling case for several pragmatic changes to US nuclear weapons policy that would meaningfully reduce the risk of nuclear miscalculation. Whether you consider yourself a hawk or a dove, an expert or an interested citizen, The Button is required reading for anyone who wants to ensure we avoid nuclear war in an era of great power competition.

Michle Flournoy, former US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy

At a time when the power to destroy our world rests in the hands of men like Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, The Button is a powerful and urgent reminder that the risk of nuclear war is far too great. More than that, it offers a smart, comprehensive, well-argued case for what we can do to pursue a safer and more peaceful world.

Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor to President Obama

The risk of accidental nuclear war is increasing, and through The Button Perry and Collina give an insightful account of the dangers of nuclear weapons, how fragile the current nuclear launch system is, and most importantwhat you can do about it. This book will make you realize that no one person should have the sole authority to end the world and there is an urgent need to move to prohibit and eliminate nuclear weapons.

Beatrice Fihn, recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize

No one knows how to prevent nuclear war better than Bill Perry. He had a front row seat to the arms race and the wisdom to back away from the brink. In this must-read book, Perry and Collina tap into a powerful insightthat we have been focused on the wrong nuclear threat. They chart a new and compelling course to keep us safe from blundering into atomic destruction.

Wendy Sherman, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs

Bill Perry and Tom Collina give some clear thinking about the dangers of nuclear weapons and how to reduce these dangers. This deserves top attention at capitals around the world.

George Shultz, former US Secretary of State

Former secretary of defense Bill Perry, the strategist behind most of the US military advantage today, and nuclear policy expert Tom Collina have defined the growing nuclear risks that could determine whether our nationand indeed the worldsurvives. In our cyber world with nine nuclear weapons states, the risk of blunder, mistake, or false warnings greatly exceed the risk of a premeditated nuclear attack. Our strategies reflect old thinking, leaving us exposed to grave and unnecessary dangers. The Button is a must-read book for leaders and citizens and underscores the urgent need for new thinking and wise, rational leadership on the most important issues facing the world.

Sam Nunn, former US Senator

American nuclear policy is broken. We are drifting toward catastrophe with a new arms race, new weapons, and new war-fighting doctrines pulled from the darkest days of the Cold War. In The Button, two top experts, William Perry and Tom Collina, detail the problems and lay out exactly the dramatic shift we need to pull us back from the brink. There is no more important issue than preventing nuclear war, and no more important time than now. If you read only one national security book this year, read this one.

Joe Cirincione, former president of the Ploughshares Fund

The Button is about presidents and their apocalyptic power; about the stark danger America faces from its nuclear overkill. In chilling detail, Perry and Collina recount the several instances when Russia and the United States almost fired on one anotherby mistake. In mere minutes, the president of the United Stateson his owncan launch thousands of nuclear missiles solely because of warning messages from a computer. This book is a wake-up call: timely and profoundly important.

Jerry Brown, former Governor, California

My Journey at the Nuclear Brink (Stanford University Press, 2015)

Preventive Defense: A New Security Strategy for America (by William J. Perry and Ashton B. Carter; Brookings Institution Press, 1999)

The views expressed in this book are those of the authors and do not necessarily express policy or position of the Department of Defense or the US Government. The public release clearance of this book by the Department of Defense does not imply Department of Defense endorsement or factual accuracy of the material.

The Button copyright 2020 by William J. Perry and Tom Z. Collina

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

BenBella Books, Inc.

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BenBella is a federally registered trademark.

First E-Book Edition: June 2020

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019059814

ISBN 9781948836999 (hard cover) | ISBN 9781950665181 (electronic)

Editing by Stephanie Gorton

Copyediting by Karen Levy

Proofreading by Marissa Wold Uhrina and Greg Teague

Indexing by WordCo Indexing Services, Inc.

Text design by Katie Hollister

Cover design by Faceout Studio, Tim Green

Cover photo Shutterstock / jejim (eagle), caesart (texture), and Lack-OKeen (nuclear symbol)

Photos on pages 145148 courtesy of George Washington University National Security Archives (www.nsarchive.org), on page 160 David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images (top) and Olivier DoulierPool/Getty Images (bottom)