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Two Classic (e.g., old) Literature Reviews on Psychological Deterrents to Nuclear Theft

Friday, June 26th, 2009

Thanks to the Penn State Engineering Library, I now have pristine scanned copies of two classic literature reviews focused on psychological deterrents to nuclear theft.  These are:

  • Meguire, P. G. and Kramer, J. J. (1976). “Psychological Deterrents to Nuclear Theft: A Preliminary Literature Review and Bibliography.” NSBIR 76-1007, prepared for the Defense Nuclear Agency by the Law Enforcement Standards Laboratory, National Bureau of Standards [Scribd link]

A review of the unclassified literature dealing with psychological deterrents was conducted for the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA). Its purpose was to identify techniques that might be useful in the DNA’s Forced-Entry Deterrent Systems (FEDS) Program for psychologically deterring nuclear weapon theft. The review indicates that while human psychological processes (sensory, perceptual and cognitive) can be manipulated by various means, definitive empirical data are lacking which relate directly to deterring nuclear weapon theft. Behavioral impact research should be undertaken by DNA to (1) ascertain the deterrence values of the many techniques identified and (2) test the hypotheses implicit in the FEDS concept.

  • Lapinsky, G. W. and Goodman, C. (1980). “Psychological Deterrents to Nuclear Theft: An Updated Literature Review and Bibliography.” NSBIR 80-1038, prepared for the Defense Nuclear Agency by the Law Enforcement Standards Laboratory, National Bureau of Standards [Scribd link]

A review of the unclassified literature dealing with psychological deterrents was conducted for the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA). The review indicates that while human psychological processes (sensory, perceptual and cognitive) can be manipulated by various means, definitive empirical data are lacking which directly relate to deterring nuclear weapon theft. Behavioral impact research should be undertaken by DNA to ascertain the deterrence values of the many techniques identified.

UPDATE: My undergraduate assistant tracked down a number of very useful references extracted from the 1980 report.  These will be posted really soon.

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