Hosted Lecture: Brigadier Feroz Khan (Ret.)

On January 23, Pakistan Army Brigadier (Ret.) Feroz Khan met with a group of National Security Affairs students and faculty to discuss the loci and strategy of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program. Brig. Khan provided a detalied historical survey of Pakistan's nuclear weapons and missile development programs and also explained the logic underpinning these programs in the context of Pakistan's defense policy toward India. Of note, he explained that Pakistan's deterrence strategy rests largely on its ability to counter Indian conventional military attacks with its own conventional military operations, and that the use of nucler weapons is likely to be considered only when all conventional military options are exhausted. The challenge for Pakistan today is to modernize its land, sea and air forces so that the nuclear threshold remains very high.