We Are the People Who Pay

This working paper examines the relationship between popular constitutional authority and the performance of nuclear security arrangements. Starting from “We the People,” it distinguishes delegated legal authority from the strategic effectiveness of deterrence and the protection of civilians. Drawing on U.S. constitutional history, nuclear command, offense–defense bargaining, and international legal debate, it argues that credible retaliation alone does not establish fulfillment of the governmental obligation to protect the people who finance and bear its risks. It considers a bounded, renewable fifty-year security undertaking as a proposition for further evaluation, not a guarantee of peace. The paper joins two independently intelligible readings— constitutional legitimacy and strategic performance—through the obligation to justify, assess, and revise inherited nuclear commitments. An appendix outlines the distributional and intergenerational dimensions of security obligations.