"Self-defense" becomes peculiarly compounded if we have to worry about his striking us to keep us from striking him to keep him from striking us....The surprise-attack problem, when viewed as a problem of reciprocal suspicion and aggravated "self-defense," suggests that there are not only secrets we prefer not to keep, but military capabilities we might prefer not to have.

DEFINE: Illuminates the 'security dilemma' concept via the self-defense paradox. XREF: Echoes Schelling's stability theory and Cold War deterrence thinking on the dynamics of reciprocal fear.

Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, loc. 525