But, in most of the cases that one can imagine, it is insufficient simply to assert that one is not engaging in a strategic strike or that one is not in a menacing posture. There has to be some way of authenticating certain facts, the facts presumably involving the disposition of forces. We would have to prove not only that we were not intending to exploit our position, but that our actual position was one that could not be exploited to doublecross the enemy if he should take us at our word and restrain his own forces.

DEFINE: Clarifies the concept of authentication — that trustworthy posture in strategic contexts demands verifiable proof of one's actual position, not just assertion of intent.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 569