Date

Oct 25, 1968

Description

In response to a directive from Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara in 1966, the Joint Chiefs had begun working on a nuclear targeting plan against China in the context of a war with Beijing or if the Soviet Union was "involved." Looking at the Chiefs' latest version of the study, Alain Enthoven who presided over system analysis in the Pentagon, did not believe it included enough options. Working with Paul Nitze, Enthoven developed recommendations for more study of the Chinese economy so that more target lists of civilian and military installations could be developed.

In the instructions to the Chiefs, Nitze pointed to two important conclusions in their study: 1) that it was not practical to "target for a large percentage of casualties" in China, presumably because it would require too many weapons, and that it was possible to achieve high levels of damage against military and industrial target "with very low levels of fatalities." Nitze asked the Chiefs for further consideration of the details of placing weapons on specific targets under the various attack options.

Source

Defense Department FOIA release

Document published in following posting(s):

Nuclear War Planning and the Challenge of Civilian Oversight

Jan 22, 2020

Assistant Secretary of Defense Alain Enthoven to Secretary of Defense, "JCS Study of Nuclear Targeting of Communist China," 23 October 1968[ attached memorandum from (Acting) Secretary of Defense Paul H. Nitze to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, same topic, 25 October 1968, Top Secret