The counterargument was offered by Albert Mauroni, the director of the U.S. Air Force Center for Unconventional Weapons Studies. Mauroni rejected as “strategically illiterate” the premise that any use of nuclear weapons must lead to uncontrollable escalation.
Both arguments make for interesting reading, but in the final analysis, this article describing Russia's 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons reminds us that potential adversaries of the U.S. get a vote as well.