Weapons of Mass Destruction
The U.S. Federal Government should establish a foreign policy limiting the use of weapons of mass destruction by considerably increasing the funding to (1) prevent access to weapons of mass destruction by rogue states and terrorist groups; (2) prevent the use of such weapons, given access; and (3) minimize harm. To maximize the impact of this spending the additional funds should be payable across all significant activities in a way that satisfies the economic principle of equimarginalism: The last dollar spent on any one activity should add just as much to our safety and security as the last dollar spent on any other activity. Further, the United States should engage in a multilateral agreement with other countries that share these goals. Relying on the economic principles of specialization and comparative advantages will maximize the impact of these international efforts. What is the Equimarginal principle? This is a fancy term that economists use for a condition that must hold if we are maximizing the results of our efforts. Suppose we want to maximize protection against the risk from weapons of mass destruction. Then the principle says the last dollar spent on any one activity must add just as much to protection of our h
To inhibit use, given access, the U.S. and other friendly countries must research, develop and deploy defensive systems including: 4 Office of Management and Budget October 17, 2001 ealth and safety as the last dollar spent on any other activity. Why does the Equimarginal principle have to hold? Think of it in terms of an investment analogy. Suppose the principle did not hold. Then the last dollar of spending on one activity must be providing us with a greater return that the last dollar spent on some other activity. In this case we can do better (increase our level of safety) by shifting resources out of the activity that is giving us a low return and into the activity that promises a high return. And we should continue the resource shift until the returns are equal. Using economic and military sanctions 2 Stansfield Turner, Former CIA Director, 2001 (NAVAL WAR COLLEGE REVIEW Defenses against conventional weapons and commercial products that can be turned into weapons To minimize harm, given use, the U.S. and other friendly nations should research, develop and spread vaccines and medicines and otherwise expand our ability to detect and treat victims of weapons of mass destruction.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1677
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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