This is the kind of tactic that Secretary of State John Foster Dulles was looking for in the following passage: … In the future it may thus be feasible to place less reliance upon deterrence of vast retaliatory power....Thus, in contrast to the 1950 decade, it may be that by the 1960 decade the nations which are around the Sino-Soviet perimeter can possess an effective defense against full-scale conventional attack and thus confront any aggressor with the choice between failing or himself initiating nuclear war against the defending country.

DEFINE: Clarifies the 'tactic' Dulles sought — a shift away from massive retaliation toward perimeter defense against conventional attack.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 318