Dyer-Bennet asks whether BR really did advocate a preventive war ("nuclear attack") on Russia. BR noted at the top in his handwriting: "Refer to Appendix 'Inconsistency?' in 'Common Sense & Nuclear Warfare'".

"My position with respect to the Soviet Union has been often misinterpreted. I advocated that the Soviets should be informed in 1948 of the tremendous importance of the proposal to internationalise atomic energy, and to be warned that the consequences of not coming to agreement on this would be a disastrous arms race. I urged those who supported the internationalisation of atomic energy to inform the Soviets that the consequences of failure to agree might be war. I did not propose an attack upon the Soviet Union, but an ultimately serious effort to avert what then seemed to be an inevitable arms race, the consequences of which we are now experiencing.

"I have addressed myself to this point in the Appendix to my book Common Sense and Nuclear Warfare. I am enclosing a leaflet entitled Act or Perish, which I hope will interest you."