Alain Enthoven, an MIT-trained economist, was the countrys first assistant secretary of defense for systems analysis from 1965 to 1969. In his interview conducted for War and Peace in the Nuclear Age, Enthoven sets the stage for the missile age. He discusses how the arrival of nuclear weapons that could reach the United States made it necessary to rethink military strategy and the nations overall defense posture. What was new, he points out, was the establishment of systems analysis for making key decisions on force requirements, weapon systems, targeting theory, and other military matters. Enthoven recounts how public interpretation of flexible response strategy ran counter to both the administrations overriding goalto prevent nuclear warand its bottom line: that nuclear war is unwinnable. He recalls that dismissing massive retaliation and the untenable consequences it posed, canceling an array of bomber and ballistic programs, and focusing on a conventional military buildup and a survivable retaliatory force generated immense controversy among U.S. military circles and European partners in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
![Interview with Robert McNamara, 1986 [2]](https://bpldcassets.blob.core.windows.net/derivatives/metadata/commonwealth-oai:08614m274/image_thumbnail_300.jpg)
![War and Peace in the Nuclear Age; Interview with Robert McNamara, 1986 [2]](https://bpldcassets.blob.core.windows.net/derivatives/metadata/commonwealth-oai:5m60v450c/image_thumbnail_300.jpg)
![Interview with McGeorge Bundy, 1986 [1]](https://bpldcassets.blob.core.windows.net/derivatives/metadata/commonwealth-oai:q237kq771/image_thumbnail_300.jpg)